#Tri-spine: Tachypleus Tridentatus

[rabbityfrogs]

Are there different types of horseshoe crabs?

There are!! there are four different species of horseshoe crab, the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus) which is found along the eastern coast of the United States & the Gulf of Mexico

the Mangrove Horseshoe Crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) & the Indo-Pacific Horseshoe Crab (Tachypleus gigas), which are both found in South & Southeast Asia

& The Tri-Spine Horseshoe Crab, sometimes also called the Chinese or Japanese Horseshoe Crab (Tachypleus Tridentatus), found in Southeast & East Asia!

Atlantic Horseshoe Crab blood contains a chemical called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate, or LAL. LAL reacts to harmful endotoxins, which causes the blood of Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs to clot up in order to protect the creature. For this reason, their blood is harvested for usage in the testing of vaccines, implants, & similar medical products. They are also the most studied species.

Indo-Pacific Horseshoe Crabs & Tri-Spine Horseshoe crabs also have a similar chemical in them, called Tachypleus Amebocyte Lysate, or TAL. It is used for much of the same usage in Asia. Recently, an artificial substitute, recombinant factor C, or rFC, has been created! If it is widely adopted, we may be able to stop or greatly lessen the amount of blood harvests, and save many horseshoe crabs. Indo-Pacific horseshoe crabs are generally larger then Atlantic ones.

The Mangrove Horseshoe Crab (pictured above), does not contain an amebocyte lysate like the other three species. Instead, their blood contains a deadly tetrodotoxin, a type of neurotoxin! Mangrove horseshoe crabs are also generally smaller than most other species.

[juliagerolmo]

(asynchronous classwork 3/15) Today I made a plan for the project I would like to do for the competition  regarding depicting an animal listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The animal I have chosen is a horseshoe crab. Either Tachypleus tridentatus (tri-spine) or Limulus polyphemus (American horsheshoe crab)

Below I have attached a screenshot of my outline for the project, a sketch of said outline and two drawings I did about a month ago that I will draw inspiration from.