horseshoe crabs
Blue-blooded beach dwellers
Horseshoe crabs are marine arthropods with a distinctive horseshoe-shaped shell and a long, pointed tail.
Despite the name, they're more closely related to spiders and scorpions than to true crabs.
They've existed largely unchanged for hundreds of millions of years.
Their blue, copper-based blood is harvested for biomedical testing because it clots in the presence of bacterial toxins.
- eyeOrgan of sight
- spawnAquatic eggs or generate
- mating seasonReproductive cycle timing
- arthropodsJointed-limb invertebrates
- carapaceProtective dorsal exoskeleton
hard shell · blue blood · Delaware Bay · sandy beach · blood test · medical research · shell · living fossils · prehistoric creature · trilobites · loggerhead turtles · tail · molting · sand · exoskeletons · paleobiology · tide · Atlantic
- Merostomessea scorpion, sea scorpions
- arthropodsarthropod, arthropods, Arthropoda, insects, insect
- coastal lifedolphins, pelicans, lighthouses, seagulls, fishing
- invertebratesinvertebrate, arthropod, arthropods, mollusk, crustacean
- beach debrisdriftwood, seashells, shells, marine debris, wreckage
- tidal flatsmudflat, mudflats, tidal flats, silt, mud
horseshoe crabsmodern humans
Our extant species
cichlids · Darwin's finches · HIV · influenza virus · MRSA
horseshoe crabsAmerican robin
Common North American thrush
housefly · red fox · gray wolf · brown bear · common octopus
horseshoe crabsland crabs
Shore-dwelling crustaceans
tarantulas · centipedes · butterflies · birds
horse, crab, shoe, crabs, horseshoe, horsing, shoeing, horseshoes, shoed