Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus) Facts and Figures (page 1)

Fundamental to our ability to serve our customers is our confidence in an adequate supply of our most important raw material - the blood of the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). The horseshoe crab is an exquisite biological test system that has made LAL the assay of choice for the detection of bacterial endotoxins around the world. Its specificity, simplicity, and sensitivity is unsurpassed.

The LAL assay is so sensitive it can detect one picogram/mL of bacterial endotoxin. One picogram (or 0.000000000001 grams) is equivalent to 1 second in 320 centuries or one grain of sugar in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Each year we bleed horseshoe crabs using highly controlled and monitored procedures that help to ensure that the donor crabs are returned to their natural environment unharmed. The number of crabs we bleed is determined by the number needed to achieve our goal. We end each bleeding season with enough raw material to support at least 24 months of LAL reagent production.

We work with commercial fishermen who collect donors from the shallow waters off the coast of South Carolina and in the Delaware Bay. Two collection sites ensures biological diversity and helps us take advantage of natural conditions that favor one site over another in any given year.

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The Horseshoe Crab Technical Report : Crab Population Update 

"Limulus Lately", article published in Chesapeake Bay Magazine

What's New

Article Highlights Success of Horseshoe Crab Management Plan

On-line Version of the 2008 Endosafe® Products and Services US Catalog Now Available

November 2007 Endosafe Times Newsletter Now Available On-line

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