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Woah. Are horseshoe crabs like other crustaceans in that they eat pretty much anything including/mostly detritus?

If thats the case, than how would it be beneficial to have blood that coagulates so easily?

Wouldn’t every meal lead to a crab version of a stroke?

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Mercival@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
Horseshoe crabs are not crusteceans, they are early chelicerates.

They have an open circulatory system, where the blood (heamolymph) freely spills out of the arteries into surrounding tissues, so a small clot probably wouldn’t cause issues. Think of it like a cyst, sometimes if an infection can’t be removed by the immune system, your body will just enclose it in a capsule, so it can’t spread.

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- peopleproblems@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
  Ahhh that makes sense. That’s a pretty cool defense system
  
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MeanEYE@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
They are not crabs nor crustaceans.

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- Kedly@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
  Not a relevant time to be pedantic
  
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  - MeanEYE@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
    Well, he asked if they are like other crustaceans, so the answer is they are not crustaceans so no, they are not like others.
    
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    Kedly@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
    Aww fuck you’re right. I’m the one in the wrong here. I apologize, it wasnt a relevant time for me to be an ass
    
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Four_lights77@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
Probably so it can detect it as quickly as possible for elimination.

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