Horseshoe Crabs
The horseshoe crab is one of my favourite invertebrates!
They're actually more similar to arachnids than crabs and they're living fossils - the oldest known species has been around for 450 million years! There's 4 species of horseshoe crab known to science today and their not dangerous - despite their appearance!
The blood of a horseshoe crab is also bright blue! It contains immune cells that are exceptionally sensitive to bacteria and as a result horseshoe crab blood is used to test if vaccines are safe from contamination!
Sadly horseshoe crabs are threatened by habitat loss as well as being collected for their blood (though they're returned not all of them survive).
Let me know if you've ever seen a horseshoe crab in the comments!
They're actually more similar to arachnids than crabs and they're living fossils - the oldest known species has been around for 450 million years! There's 4 species of horseshoe crab known to science today and their not dangerous - despite their appearance!
The blood of a horseshoe crab is also bright blue! It contains immune cells that are exceptionally sensitive to bacteria and as a result horseshoe crab blood is used to test if vaccines are safe from contamination!
Sadly horseshoe crabs are threatened by habitat loss as well as being collected for their blood (though they're returned not all of them survive).
Let me know if you've ever seen a horseshoe crab in the comments!