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A horseshoe crab being rescued at Mandai Mudflats in 2016. Horseshoe crabs have bright blue, copper-based blood valued in the region of US$16,000 a litre.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
Anjana Ahuja
Horseshoe crabs are among the oldest species on earth. The prehistoric-looking creatures, more closely related to spiders and scorpions than crustaceans, have existed for about 450 million years.
But most fascinatingly, they have bright blue, copper-based blood valued in the region of US$16,000 (S$20,440) a litre. That is because it has unique biological properties: It clots quickly in the presence of bacterial toxins, making it a now-vital ingredient in the safety testing of drugs and vaccines.
