Knowra Horseshoe crab Horseshoe crab A marine arthropod in the group Xiphosura, with a hard, horseshoe-shaped shell, book gills, and a long tail spine called a telson. Despite its name, it is more closely related to spiders and scorpions than to crabs.
Xiphosura : A group of marine chelicerate arthropods that includes living horseshoe crabs and their extinct relatives. This is the larger taxonomic group to which horseshoe crabs belong.
Horseshoe crab locomotion : Movement by horseshoe crabs using jointed legs, gill plates, and the tail spine. These structures let the animal crawl, swim briefly, and recover when overturned.
Limulus amebocyte lysate : A reagent made from horseshoe crab blood cells that detects bacterial endotoxins. This assay made horseshoe crab blood valuable in pharmaceutical safety testing.
Atlantic horseshoe crab : The horseshoe crab species Limulus polyphemus, found along the Atlantic coast of North America and the Gulf of Mexico. It is the best-known living species and the source of widely used lysate.
Chelicerata : An arthropod subphylum that includes spiders, scorpions, mites, and horseshoe crabs. Horseshoe crabs share this lineage with arachnids, not true crabs.
Horseshoe crab feeding : The process by which horseshoe crabs find and consume small benthic animals and other food. Leg bases crush food before it reaches the mouth beneath the body.
Endotoxin : A toxic component of the outer membrane of many Gram-negative bacteria, released especially when cells break apart. The blood-based assay detects this contaminant in injectable products.
Tachypleus tridentatus : An Asian horseshoe crab species found in coastal waters of East Asia. It represents the living horseshoe crabs of the western Pacific.
Book gill : A respiratory organ made of thin, stacked plates, found in horseshoe crabs and some other aquatic animals. These layered gills let horseshoe crabs exchange gases underwater.
Hemocyanin : A copper-containing respiratory protein that transports oxygen in the hemolymph of many arthropods and mollusks. It carries oxygen through the horseshoe crab’s circulatory system.
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