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Horseshoe Crab and Its Medicinal Values Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2015) 4(2): 956-964 International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 4 Number 2 (2015) pp. 956-96 4 http://www.ijcmas.com Review Article Horseshoe crab and its medicinal values Vikash Kumar*, Suvra Roy, A.K. Sahoo, B.K. Behera and A.P. Sharma Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI), Barrackpore- 700120 India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT The medicinal value of horseshoe crab blood comes from its ability to clot in the K eywo rd s presence of bacteria, rendering the bacteria harmless. Even though bacteria are usually destroyed by modern sterilization techniques, some bacteria, called endotoxins, may survive the sterilization process. This blood-clotting ability of the H orseshoe horseshoe crab makes it very valuable in testing for injectable medicines, vaccines crab, E ndotoxins, and sterile medical equipment. The horseshoe crab has also proved valuable to the B lood- medical field in another way. Studies involving the nerve pathways in the eyes of clotting, horseshoe crabs have led to many discoveries in human eye research. The outer Chitin shell of a horseshoe crab is made primarily of chitin. Scientists discovered that when used as a coating for suture material and burn dressings, chitin rapidly increased wound healing, cutting the time by half. Introduction Horseshoe crabs are marine arthropods of it is not really a crab. Horseshoe crabs the family Limulidae and order Xiphosura or belong to the phylum, Arthropoda, along Xiphosurida, which live primarily in and with crabs, insects, and other invertebrates around shallow ocean waters on soft sandy with jointed legs, but their closest living or muddy bottoms. They occasionally come relatives are spiders and scorpions. True onto shore to mate. They are commonly crabs have two pairs of antennae and a pair used as bait and fertilizer. In recent years, a of mandibles, or jaws; horseshoe crabs lack decline in the population has occurred as a these structures. Further, comparing the legs consequence of coastal habitat destruction in of a true crab with the legs of a horseshoe Japan and overharvesting along the east crab reveals the other significant difference. coast of North America. Tetrodotoxin may True crabs classified as decapod be present in the row of species inhabiting crustaceans, have five pairs of legs, which the waters of Thailand [1]. Because of their include a pair of claws. Horseshoe crabs origin 450 million years ago, horseshoe have seven pairs of legs under their helmet- crabs are considered living fossils [2]. like shells; five of these seven pairs of legs are equipped with claws. In adult males, the Even though the horseshoe crab has a hard second pair of claws (pedipalps) has a shell and numerous appendages with claws, “boxing-glove” appearance and is used to 956 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2015) 4(2): 956-964 grasp females during spawning. Horseshoe Genus: Carcinoscorpius crabs also have four simple eyes on the top Limulus (O. F. Müller, 1785) of their carapace instead of two as with the Mesolimulus (extinct) true crab. Our North American species has Tachypleus been named Limulus Polyphemus – Limulus Species: Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda meaning “a little askew or odd” and Limulus polyphemus (Linnaeus, 1758) Polyphemus after the giant Cyclops in Greek Tachypleus tridentatus mythology. Tachypleus gigas Mesolimulus walchi (extinct) Classification Biology/life history of the horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs resemble crustaceans, but belong to a separate Subphylum, Horseshoe crabs are among the world’s Chelicerata, and are closely related to oldest and most fascinating creatures. The arachnids. The earliest horseshoe crab earliest horseshoe crab species had already fossils are found in strata from the late inhabited Earth at least 200 million years Ordovician period, roughly 450. The before the dinosaurs arrived or about 400 Limulidae are the only recent family of the million years ago. Horseshoe crabs are order Xiphosura, and contain all four living animals of the temperate seas. During the species of horseshoe crabs [3]: cold months, they lie half-buried in the ocean sediments. Horseshoe crabs have been Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, the observed mating from April through mangrove horseshoe crab, found in December, although the peak reproduction Southeast Asia period occurs during the highest tides in late May and early June, at the time of the full or Limulus polyphemus, the Atlantic new moon. Most spawning is at night horseshoe crab, found along the because of the protection afforded by American Atlantic coast and in the darkness. In spring, males arrive at the Gulf of Mexico shorelines first, followed by the females a Tachypleus gigas, found in Southeast week or two later. Females average being and East Asia 30% larger than males and attract the males by releasing a pheromone, or natural Tachypleus tridentatus, found in chemical stimulant, into the water. Southeast and East Asia Horseshoe crabs also use their relatively good vision to help locate potential mates. Taxonomy of the Horseshoe Crab The males patrol the near shore waters and use their pedipalps to attach to the abdomen Kingdom: Animalia of a female as she moves toward the beach. Phylum: Arthropoda They swim upside down, moving their legs Subphylum: Chelicerata and gills in a progressive wavelike Class: Merostomata (Dana, 1852) oscillation from front to back. Subclass: Xiphosura (Latreille, 1802) Order: Xiphosura (Latreille, 1802) Horseshoe crabs push their way along the Suborder: Limulina (Richter and Richter, bottom, digging small furrows in search of 1929) food. They use their first pair of legs as Superfamily: Limulacea (Zittle, 1885) feelers to determine the presence of prey. Family: Limulidae (Zittle, 1885) When the crab feels or smells a worm, clam, 957 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2015) 4(2): 956-964 or dead fish, one of the claws picks it up and about 1000 ommatidia, plus a pair of median pushes it toward the heavy, spiny eyes that are able to detect both visible light projections that surround the mouth; the and ultraviolet light, a single endoparietal horseshoe crab has no nose; but the tiny eye, and a pair of rudimentary lateral eyes hairs on the spiny projections around its on the top. The latter becomes functional mouth are chemoreceptors, allowing the just before the embryo hatches. Also, a pair crab to smell prey. Since the horseshoe crab of ventral eyes is located near the mouth, as has no jaws to chew its food, it must bring well as a cluster of photoreceptors on the all of its legs together and use the spiny telson. Despite having relatively poor projections around its month than the first eyesight, the animals have the largest rods set of legs to crush the worm or clam. and cones of any known animal, about 100 Horseshoe crabs also have gizzards times the size of humans' [7, 8]. The mouth containing sand and small bits of gravel to is located in the center of the legs, where help grind their food. Horseshoe crabs their bases have the same function as jaws continue to grow for nine to ten years until and help grinding up food. It has five pairs they reach maturity. The young horseshoe of legs for walking, swimming, and moving crabs molt, or shed, their outer skeleton food into the mouth, each with a claw at the (exoskeleton) often, until they reach sexual tip except the last pair. The long, straight, maturity, then molting slows, occurring only rigid tail can be used to flip it over if turned about once annually. The animals increase upside down, so a horseshoe crab with a in size from 25-30% with each molt by broken tail is more susceptible to desiccation pumping in water to expand their new shells, or predation. which will harden in approximately 24 hours. Males are sexually mature at their Behind their legs, they have book gills, sixteenth molt or ninth year. Females need at which exchange respiratory gases and are least 17 molts and mature in their tenth year. also occasionally used for swimming. As in Unlike the blue crab, this breaks out of its other arthropods, a true endoskeleton is old shell, the horseshoe crab crawls forward absent, but the body does have an out of its shell through a split that develops endoskeletal structure made up of along the junction of the dorsal (top) and cartilaginous plates that support the book ventral (bottom) surfaces. gills [9]. Horseshoe crabs face dangers from a variety Horseshoe crab normally swims upside of predators throughout their lifecycle. down, inclined at about 30° to the horizontal These include mollusks, crustaceans, fish, and moving at about 10–15 cm/s (0.22–0.34 leopard sharks, eels, birds, sea turtles, and, mph) [10, 11, 12]. Despite this, they usually maybe most importantly, the man. A partial are found on the ocean floor searching for list of organisms known to prey on worms and molluscs, which are their main horseshoe crabs during various stages of food. They may also feed on crustaceans and their lives is given in Table 1 [4, 5, 6]. even small fish. Females are larger than males; C. rotundicauda is the size of a Anatomy and behavior human hand, while L. polyphemus can be up to 60 cm (24 in) long (including tail). The The entire body of the horseshoe crab is juveniles grow about 33% larger with every protected by a hard carapace. It has two molt until reaching adult size [13]. compound lateral eyes, each composed of 958 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2015) 4(2): 956-964 Breeding the nerve cord and extends almost the entire length of its body. On average, the heart rate During the breeding season, horseshoe crabs of the horseshoe crab is 32 beats per minute.
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