The blue blood that keeps our medicine safe
In short: Every year, hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs are captured during full moon spawning cycles to provide a vital resource for medical safety. This video explores the remarkable properties of their cerulean blood and why it remains essential to modern laboratory work.
During warmer months, particularly at night under a full moon, horseshoe crabs emerge from the ocean to spawn. Lab teams capture these creatures by the hundreds of thousands to harvest their distinct blue blood before returning them to the sea. This process is driven by the incredible properties found within their cerulean blood, which serves a critical role in medical testing and safety.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Why do we harvest horseshoe crab blood? - Elizabeth Cox
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