Not edible. The use of horseshoe crab meat can cause allergic poisoning, and is a national second-class protected animals, not to eat.
1. Horseshoe crab meat contains a large molecule of non-specific protein allergenic substances, eating horseshoe crabs can trigger skin allergic rashes, redness, swelling and scratching, leading to anaphylactic shock or lethal toxic reaction in severe cases, the mortality rate of the poisoning is high. This phenomenon is consistent with the "preliminary report on the toxicity of horseshoe crabs along the coast of Guangxi" reported by Liang Guangyao of the Guangxi Institute of Marine Research in the third issue of the Chinese Journal of Marine Drugs in 1988.
2. The flesh of the horseshoe crab contains a large number of endocannabinoid purine chemicals. According to modern medical research: purine-like substances in the body of incomplete metabolism or accumulation, is to lead to the development of gout disease is an important reason.
3. Horseshoe crab blood color is blue, because the horseshoe crab plasma is the main component of hemocyanin, every 1ml hemocyanin containing heavy metal organic copper (Cu2+) in 0.28 ~ 0.31mg (horseshoe crab out of the water for a long time difference). According to the average weight of each (male and female) horseshoe crab, the plasma and flesh of adult horseshoe crabs contain 600~1300mg of this copper (Cu2+).
According to medical research, this heavy metal (Cu2+) enters the human body with the circulation and mainly accumulates in the liver and kidneys, which can accelerate the necrosis of hepatocytes or cirrhosis of the liver in people with liver and kidney insufficiency and cause renal failure and ammonia poisoning. It can accelerate the development of liver cell necrosis or cirrhosis and lead to renal failure, ammonia poisoning and other complications. In addition, this (Cu2+) quality can also cause human hematopoietic dysfunction and affect the normal development of the nervous system of young children.
The horseshoe crab is a second-grade protected animal, and is strictly prohibited by law from being commercially traded or consumed. Horseshoe crabs have been found on Earth since the Carboniferous Period, more than 300 million years ago. About 31 species of horseshoe crab fossils have been discovered, and the horseshoe crab's morphology has changed little during the evolutionary process, so it is called a "living fossil". Horseshoe crabs generally live in the deep sea and return to the beach to spawn from June to August every year, and they have high requirements for the natural environment, such as the quality of sand and temperature of the beach.
Pingtan Island, Fujian Province, is a world-renowned horseshoe crab production area, and the local production of horseshoe crabs once ranked first in the country. However, due to the fact that Fujian people love to eat horseshoe crabs, a lot of catching and various reasons, at the end of the last century, Pingtan Chinese horseshoe crabs have been hard to find, and have become an endangered species. Over the years, the governments of Pingtan County and Fuzhou City have continuously increased the protection of Chinese horseshoe crabs, prohibiting any unit or individual from capturing, domesticating and breeding, operating and utilizing, purchasing and selling Chinese horseshoe crabs and their products, so as to strengthen the protection of Chinese horseshoe crabs. However, due to the long growth cycle of the horseshoe crab, juvenile horseshoe crabs need to grow nearly 13 years to reproduce, so the protection situation is very serious.
The horseshoe crab, sound [hòu], sb (horseshoe crab), belongs to the limb stomatopods (Merostomata) sword-tailed order (Xiphosura) of the marine arthropods, horseshoe crab shaped like a crab, the body is greenish-brown or dark brown, encased in a hard shell, there are four eyes, two of which are compound, the head of the thoracic armour anterior end of the two small eyes of 0.5 millimetres, the most sensitive to ultraviolet light, only used for the most sensitive to ultraviolet light and used only to perceive brightness, and a pair of large compound eyes on either side of the cephalothorax. Although horseshoe crabs can swim by slapping their gill plates dorsally to propel their bodies, they usually bend their bodies into an arch, burrow into the mud, and then propel their bodies forward with their tail swords and last pair of stepping feet.
There are three extant genera: two off the coast of Asia and one off the coast of North America. The best known species is the only American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, which can reach over 60 centimeters (2 feet) in length. Three other species, Tachypleus tridentatus (Chinese horseshoe crab), T. gigas (giant horseshoe crab), and Carcinoscorpinus rotundicauda, are found in Asia, from Japan to India, and all three are similar to the horseshoe crab genus Limulus in morphology and habits.
Distributed along the coasts of Asia and North America.
The American horseshoe crab (Limulus americana) is found in the eastern waters of North America, south of Nova Scotia, Canada, and along the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of Maine in the United States. It is also known as the narrow sea area from 19 degrees to 45 degrees north latitude.
The Chinese horseshoe crab is mainly distributed domestically in the coastal waters of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, and its main sources are Zhanjiang, Beihai, Changle and Pingtan. Overseas distribution in Japan, the Philippines and other places.
Southern horseshoe crab, distributed in India, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia.
Round-tailed horseshoe crab, distributed in India, Bangladesh. Thailand, Indonesia. It is also distributed along the coasts of Guangxi Qinzhou, Beihai, Hainan Danzhou, Lingao, Chengmai, and Haikou areas in China.
Horseshoe crabs appeared hundreds of millions of years ago and can reproduce, on the one hand, the horseshoe crab's own reproduction ability is strong, on the other hand, because of the horseshoe crab meat taste is poor, and easy to consume after the occurrence of allergies and toxic shock, etc., due to the horseshoe crabs have special physiological and toxicological nature, has always been very few people to catch and kill. However, in recent years, because some people still do not really recognize the health hazards of eating horseshoe crabs, some small traders in their economic interests driven by blind speculation and deliberate misinformation, resulting in this ancient horseshoe crab resources have been seriously damaged. This kind of indiscriminate catching and killing of horseshoe crabs and disregard for the lives of those who consume them should attract people's attention.
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