It is not an anticoagulant, quite the opposite actually. The blood (limulus amoebocyte lysate) will coagulate at the slightest hint of gram-negative bacteria and their endotoxins.
It’s most likely a defense mechanism against bacterial infections.
It’s widely used in medicine to check for bacterial contamination of injectable pharmaceuticals.
Horseshoe crabs are not crusteceans, they are early chelicerates.
They have an open circulatory system, where the blood (heamolymph) freely spills out of the arteries into surrounding tissues, so a small clot probably wouldn’t cause issues. Think of it like a cyst, sometimes if an infection can’t be removed by the immune system, your body will just enclose it in a capsule, so it can’t spread.
Yeah, I may be a bit combative in my comments, but in general I dont want to contribute to toxicity, so when I’m wrong I’ll fess up and apologize for it
I feel you and I don’t know your age but me personally I found that with age, I was more forthcoming with saying i was wrong and just trying to be nice to folk.
It is not an anticoagulant, quite the opposite actually. The blood (limulus amoebocyte lysate) will coagulate at the slightest hint of gram-negative bacteria and their endotoxins.
It’s most likely a defense mechanism against bacterial infections.
It’s widely used in medicine to check for bacterial contamination of injectable pharmaceuticals.
Discoveries like this always makes me wonder, who had the idea to try it and why
wait until you hear about protamines and their medical uses
Woah. Are horseshoe crabs like other crustaceans in that they eat pretty much anything including/mostly detritus?
If thats the case, than how would it be beneficial to have blood that coagulates so easily?
Wouldn’t every meal lead to a crab version of a stroke?
Horseshoe crabs are not crusteceans, they are early chelicerates.
They have an open circulatory system, where the blood (heamolymph) freely spills out of the arteries into surrounding tissues, so a small clot probably wouldn’t cause issues. Think of it like a cyst, sometimes if an infection can’t be removed by the immune system, your body will just enclose it in a capsule, so it can’t spread.
Ahhh that makes sense. That’s a pretty cool defense system
They are not crabs nor crustaceans.
Not a relevant time to be pedantic
Well, he asked if they are like other crustaceans, so the answer is they are not crustaceans so no, they are not like others.
Aww fuck you’re right. I’m the one in the wrong here. I apologize, it wasnt a relevant time for me to be an ass
It’s great that you owned up. Many wouldn’t.
Yeah, I may be a bit combative in my comments, but in general I dont want to contribute to toxicity, so when I’m wrong I’ll fess up and apologize for it
I feel you and I don’t know your age but me personally I found that with age, I was more forthcoming with saying i was wrong and just trying to be nice to folk.
Have a great day dude!
Probably so it can detect it as quickly as possible for elimination.