Why this crab's blood could save your life - PHOTO

Today, vast improvements in medical hygiene have greatly reduced the odds of patients being poisoned on the treatment table. And our safety is protected by an unlikely source -- the bright blue blood of the horseshoe crab.The helmet-shaped creature has developed a unique defense to compensate for its vulnerability to infection in shallow waters. When faced with toxins produced by bacteria, amebocyte cells in the blood -- colored blue by their copper-based molecules -- identify and congeal around the invading matter, trapping the threat inside a gel-like seal that prevents it from spreading.Nature's method is now utilized on a grand scale. Over 600,000 crabs are captured each year during the spring mating season, to "donate" around 30% of their blood in a handful of specialist facilities in the United States and Asia. The blood is worth $60,000 a gallon in a global industry valued at $50 million a year.(CNN)Bakudaily.Az