The Horseshoe Crab: A True Blue-Blood NATIONAL CENTER FOR CASE STUDY TEACHING IN SCIENCE Photo credit: Breese Greg, USFWS The Horseshoe Crab: A True Blue-Blood by Kathleen A. Nolan Department of Biology, Health Promotion and Health Care Management St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY

CQ#1: What causes the blood to be blue? The iron in hemoglobin The copper in hemoglobin The copper in myoglobin The iron in hemocyanin The copper in hemocyanin

Kin, A., & Błażejowski, B. (2014). The Horseshoe Crab of the Genus Limulus: Living Fossil or Stabilomorph? Plos ONE, 9(10), 1-11.

Can you tell the male and the female apart? How?

Male clasper appendages

Spawning in Delaware Bay

Horseshoe crabs spawning

Red knots feeding on horseshoe crab eggs.

Can you guess what these are?

Photo courtesy Mark Botton, Ph.D. Fordham College Embryos!

Can you guess what these horseshoe crabs were used for? RG 1380.006 Board of Agriculture Glass Negative Collection Creator Hammond, Roydon L. Delaware Public Archives Can you guess what these horseshoe crabs were used for?

RG 1380.006 Board of Agriculture Glass Negative Collection Creator Hammond, Roydon L. Delaware Public Archives FERTILIZER!!

Watch this three-minute video on one of the key stakeholders: NATURE | Crash: A Tale of Two Species | Blue Blood | PBS 3 min. http:youtu.be/e8KlAmtIu1E

CQ#2: What is the net worth of a liter of horseshoe crab “blood” (hemolymph)? $10,000 $100 $15,000 $1000 1 million dollars

CQ#3: How many horseshoe crabs are taken for “blood-letting” every year from the five LAL companies in the U.S.? 10,000 1,000 1 million 500,000 300,000

CQ#4: Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) works in the following way: Amoebocytes react with harmful viruses Amoebocytes react with endotoxins produced by bacteria Hemocyanin reacts with endotoxins produced by viruses Hemocyanin reacts with endotoxins produced by bacteria Amoebocytes react with endotoxins produced by fungi only

CQ#5: According to Leschen and Correia (2010), what was the approximate mortality of the horseshoe crabs in their study? 10% 15% 30% 40% 50%

CQ#6: An organism that is an osmotic conformer… Changes its osmolality at various salinities Is not able to change its osmolality at various salinities Can only adjust to one salinity Needs to conform to a certain hemocyanin saline concentration Needs to conform to a certain hemocyanin glucose concentration photograph by Lauren Clarke

What is meant by “landings”? Can you explain the peak?

What is a “quota distribution plan?” (This one is for NY.) Why is it variable?

Quotas set by ASMFC for HSC’s for 2018 Compare and contrast these data. Quotas set by ASMFC for HSC’s for 2018

Discuss trends that you see. http://www.asmfc.org/species/horseshoe-crab

Stakeholder Table Educator Ecologist Paleontologist Medical researcher Conservation Development Educator Ecologist Paleontologist   Medical researcher Bird watcher Environmentalist Hotel owner Eel fisherman Bait collector Government scientist

What are your conclusions?

Image Credits Slide 1 Gregory Breese/USFWS, public domain https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsnortheast/4035509350/   Slide 3 Kin, A., B. Błażejowski. 2014. Plos ONE 9(10): 1–11. CC BY 4.0 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0108036 Slide 4. Curious Expeditions, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/curiousexpeditions/870679908/ Slide 5 MauriceJFox3, CC BY 2.5 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horseshoe_crab_male_pedipalp.jpg Slide 6 https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsnortheast/4035246616/in/photostream/ Slide 7 Asturnut, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Horseshoe_crab_mating.jpg Slide 8 Hayden, CC BY 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horseshoe_Crabs_mating.jpg Slide 9 Michael Lusk, CC BY-NC 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/killkudzu/3594378740    Slide 10 https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsnortheast/4035580656/

  Slide 11 Gregory Breese/USFWS, public domain https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsnortheast/4035465562/ Slide 12 Mark Botton, used with permission. Slide 13, 14 (Horseshoe crab embryos) Doug Wechsler, used with permission. https://dougw.photoshelter.com/index Slide 14 (Photo of larva on right) Photo by Mark Botton. Used with permission. Slide 15 Derek Perry, used with permission Slide 16 CC BY-SA 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/138014579@N08/27256381030 Slides 17 and 18 Delaware Public Archives, used with permission. Slide 20 Chosovi. CC BY-SA 2.5 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Limulus_polyphemus.jpg Slide 21 Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8394621 Slide 22 Slide 23 domdomegg, CC BY 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantic_horseshoe_crab_(Limulus_polyphemus)_(5).jpg

Slide 24 Photo by Lauren Clark, student of K. Nolan, used with permission.   Slides 25, 27, 28 and 29 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, used with permission. Slide 26 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, used with permission. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/100858.html Slide 30 Table made by K. Nolan Slide 31 Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8394621