1 minute read
Our blood is blue
Writer: Anina Lee.
No, I have not switched allegiance to the rugby team north of the Jukskei River. I’m talking about an animal that has hardly changed in half a billion years – the Horseshoe crab. These primitive animals were around long before the dinosaurs and survived ice ages and asteroids. So well are they adapted to their particular ecological niche that there has been little evolutionary pressure on them to change.
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The body of the Horseshoe crab has three sections, namely the head, abdomen and tail. Females can weigh up to 4.5kg. PHOTO: Brian Harkin, New York Times
Many years ago, when I was young, Horseshoe crab specimens were imported from the USA for zoology students at a local university to study as an example of a very early primitive animal. It certainly looked very strange and ancient. In those days, before we learned about biological extinctions, we had no concerns for the possible destruction of a species that can be regarded as a ‘living fossil’.
The Horseshoe crab has been around long before the dinosaurs but is now classified as ‘threatened’.
PHOTO: HowStuffWorks
The blue blood of the Horseshoe crab is intensively harvested by biomedical companies.
PHOTO: horseshoecrab.org
Click below to read more. (The full article can be found on page 14)
