In order to bleed the American Horseshoe Crab Limulus PolyPhen, one must hold the crab in a flexed position and insert a syringe needle into the hinge to puncture its heart. Once its circulatory system is accessed, an adult crab can be drained of nearly all of its blood. Why bleed?
The horseshoe crab Its blood contains a highly motile type called an amoeba site that secretes specialized clotting factors which react violently in the presence of gram-negative bacteria. A fact which is led to the adoption of the Limulus amoeba Cyte lysate assay or gram-negative test by the FDA. Hi, I'm Peter Armstrong from the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California Davis.
Over today I'm reporting from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where I conduct research during the summer. Today we will show you how to collect blood from the American horseshoe crab. Limitless polyphemus ar arguably the best source for large volumes of blood for any invertebrate.
So let's get started. Horseshoe crabs can be kept in captivity. They require high quality sea water and can be maintained in Marina Aquar that provide aeration and denitrification of the wate