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Horseshoe Crab Pictures
Horseshoe crab
Horseshoe Crab:
Horseshoe crab is a hard shell invertebrate closely related to arachnids than crustaceans. Examples of arachnids include spiders, scorpions and crustaceans include lobsters, shrimp and crab. They found in warmer climates and usually come out at night in order to grab some food. Some of them include worms, seaweed and mollusks. Horseshoe crab is found in Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coast of North America. It has three main parts of the body such as the head region or prosoma, the abdominal region or opisthosoma and telson or spine like tail. Female horseshoe crabs is much larger compared to male horseshoe crabs. Female horseshoe crabs lay eggs between 60,000 to 120,000 at a time. The scientific name of horseshoe crab is Limulus polyphemus and live in shallow water around 12 to 36 inches deep. Horseshoe crabs blood plays an important role in the field of medicine and pharmaceutical industry. It has a special compound in its blood. The compound is called LAL or Limulus Amebocyte Lysate and is used to test drugs and implants for endotoxins. It is also helpful for cancer research. Here are some of the horseshoe crab pictures.