Save Horseshoe crabs
Letter to the Editor
Dear Sir,
Horseshoe crabs appear to be disappearing from their familiar spawning grounds along the coastline of odhisa, Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.
Horseshoe crabs are an extremely ancient group and are often referred to as living fossils. Scientists have also urged the governments to come up with a robust protection mechanism before the living fossil becomes extinct due to destructive fishing practices.
Despite their name, these animals are not crabs at all but are related to scorpions, spiders, and extinct trilobites. According to the IUCN, all four surviving species of horseshoe crabs are at risk because of overfishing for use as food and bait, habitat loss and the production of biomedical products derived from their blood.
Horseshoe crab blood is crucial in the preparation of rapid diagnostic reagents. All injectable medicines are tested on them. A molecule has been developed from a reagent of horseshoe crabs to help treat pre-eclampsia.
Poachers kill them for their meat which is popularly believed to have aphrodisiac qualities. Therefore it’s high time to rescue these species imperatively from culprits.
VijayKumar H K. (Environmentalist), Raichur, Karnataka
