Can We Save Them? Endotoxin Testing (LAL) killing Horseshoe Crabs.

Some years ago, I got acquainted with extraordinary creatures known as Horseshoe crab (Limulus Polyphemus), and I write this story on their behalf’s. They have helped to save many life’s, and it is time that we return the favor.

Scientists believe that Horseshoe Crabs are at least 300 million years old. Despite its name, Horseshoe Crab it is more closely related to spiders, rafts, and scorpions than to crabs. The earliest horseshoe crab species had crawled around in the shallow coastal areas of the earth 100 million years before the dinosaurs themselves arrived (which was about 200 million years ago). After that time, the land's landmasses have changed dramatically, thousands of other species have come and gone, but horseshoe crabs have survived and are still the same as they were millions of years ago.

The main problem for the crabs is that their blue blood is very valuable, and used for bacterial endotoxin test. The test is used to detect or quantify endotoxins using Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate (LAL), which is an extract of blood cells from horseshoe crabs.

When the crabs are caught, they are transported to the laboratory from the fishing pier by truck. If the animals are kept cool and dark during transport, they do not exhibit any negative effects. During the bleeding process, up to 30% of the blood of the animal is removed. After the bleeding process, the crabs are returned to their area. Different studies indicate that there is 10-15%  (estimated 50, 000) mortality between crabs after they are released in their environment.

How to solve the problem and help there’s survival? The industry has come with a synthetic substitute for their blood, but as long they have this possibility to harvest the blood nothing will change, and horseshoe crab will disappear from beaches in the USA, as is disappearing from China, Japan, Singapore Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Sadly, Thomas Novitsky of the Horseshoe Crab Conservation Association is probably right when he said: “Economic growth, profit and immediate ‘benefit’ for humankind always seem to win out over sustainability and environmental protection, which is the insurance for our future.”

Horseshoe Crab has survived the dinosaurs, but can they survive humans?