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With the new #COVID vaccine approved, a reminder that we’re all indebted to the ancient & wondrous horseshoe crab.

Their blue blood contains Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) which clumps at contact with bacterial toxins. They are caught for their blood to test sterility of medical equipment & injections.

Unfortunately the harvest is unsustainable & populations are in decline. An effective synthetic substitute has been around for 2 decades & we just need the biomedical industry to switch.

#covid
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Utsav Ratti
Utsav Ratti
• •
I was 14 when I learnt that the Colorado River no longer reaches the ocean. That was 30 years ago. We’ll change when we’re dying from the cancer we are, and not a second prior.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

taradcat
taradcat
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Yes! I remember first learning of this from an episode of the BBC podcast “30 Animals that made us smarter” (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09ytk87) A fabulous podcast and definitely worth the listen. I sincerely hope a synthetic version is made viable. Must admit, I find the photo somewhat traumatising 😞

Horseshoe crabs and vaccines

A new synthetic test to create safe vaccines – based on the secrets of the horseshoe crab
BBC
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Caitlin
Caitlin
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alt text suggestions that could give the horror in this picture more justice than “horseshoe crabs harvested…”: A row of horseshoe crabs strapped to metal industrial equipment being drained of their bright blue blood into clear glass bottles for the biomedical industry.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Helgztech
Helgztech
• •
a substitute has been available for 20 years but we keep torturing these poor beings. Because profit. Humans suck.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

gavinisdie :troll:
gavinisdie :troll:
• •
I still feel bad for them though, if only there was a way to humanely extract blood from them
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Atreides
Atreides
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Unbelievable. Humans are taking, taking and taking and gives nothing back. An example how it not should be. #pvdd
#pvdd
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

TheAnymouseProphet
TheAnymouseProphet
• •

If I recall, horseshoe crabs are an ancient lineage that may be related to (though not descending from) Trilobites.

They've been on this planet a hell of a long time, survived many mass extinctions, and now are in danger because one species that should know better continues to exploit them.

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

moggie
moggie
• •

I assume they just bleed the poor animals to death and then discard them?

@Sheril

@Sheril Kirshenbaum
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

🌸🌹2ck 🌱🐇
🌸🌹2ck 🌱🐇
• •
It's unsustainable because their population is in decline, not because the practice significantly contributes to that decline, correct? My understanding is that typically the animals recover from the bloodletting and are released afterwards.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Noah Cook
Noah Cook
• •

I remember reading Richard Fortey's books back in HS and college, where he wrote about how Horseshoe Crabs are the closest living relatives to his beloved trilobites. He even ordered one in a restaurant, but was disappointed by the taste. And I have vivid memories of them from summer vacations along the Delaware coast as a child.

It's hard to imagine a world where they perished in the end-Permian extinction alongside their cousins. It would be like a world without penicillin or oil.

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Andi Starwatch
Andi Starwatch
• •

a report about it in German

https://www.nationalgeographic.de/tiere/2011/07/gesundheit-blaubluetige-lebensretter


Gesundheit: Blaublütige Lebensretter

Viele Menschen verdanken ihr Leben dem Pfeilschwanzkrebs – einer Kreatur, die älter ist als die Dinosaurier und in unseren Meeren als „lebendes Fossil“...
National Geographic
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Kingsley Bugarin OAM
Kingsley Bugarin OAM
• •

Capitalism is all about profit over all else.

If the biomedical industry is not forced to switch, it won't.

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Accidental Tourist
Accidental Tourist
• •
That is possibly the most disturbing picture I have seen for some months. I wonder when humans are going to be lined up to extract some miracle cure or perhaps they will simply clone humans for research purposes.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

GabeMoralesVR
GabeMoralesVR
• •

I know this sounds fucked up, but their blood looks delicious. Like I'd buy a bottle of blue soda like that in a heart beat.

Obviously we should switch to synthetic and let these poor prehistoric creatures keep their yummy-looking blood, tho.

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Raina
Raina
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there are quite a few ‘humans are the worst species’ posts/vibes in the comments here. This take is wrong and unhelpful. It deflects accountability, and erases lots of people to whom it does not apply. We cannot lump all humans in with the gross and destructive stuff that is very much a product of our own culture and our own economic system. Instead of the whole species, call out one of the intertwined systems of supremacist thinking that enable this kind of exploitation.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

m'ughes
m'ughes
• •
are there petitions or other calls to action for folks who see this and are moved by the issue?
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

frandroid 🏴‍☠️ jin jiyan azadî
frandroid 🏴‍☠️ jin jiyan azadî
• •

> An effective synthetic substitute has been around for 2 decades & we just need the biomedical industry to switch.

AYFKM???!

in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Only Ohm
Only Ohm
• •
That's in the US. AIUI, in Europe, we use a synthetic replacement for horseshoe crab blood.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

FrauZeitlos
FrauZeitlos
• •
I have never heard this before and it actually breaks my heart.

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