Collecting true blue blood: a journey to the heart of 1960s biology

Gisler, Priska

doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2009.08.001

Cited by 3 publications

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“…As a key scientist at the Serological Museum, Mabel Boyden provides an insightful glimpse into the bioscientific world of the late 1960s and the process of "harvesting" blue blood (Gisler, 2009). In a lengthy article, Boyden (1967) recounts a trip to collect the serum of the horseshoe crab at Delaware Bay.…”

Section: From 1948 One Scientific Institution-the Serological Museummentioning

confidence: 99%

Companions at a Distance: Technoscience, Blood, and the Horseshoe Crab

Gisler

Michael

2011

Soc Animals

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In this paper we present a particular history of Limulus polyphemus, the horseshoe crab, as a means of expanding on Haraway’s notion of companion species. Drawing on accounts of the horseshoe crab’s role, on the one hand, in work of the Serological Museum at Rutgers University that spanned the 1940s to the 1970s, and, on the other, in the development of the limulus amebocyte lysate test, we trace some of the complexities of human-limulus relations. These relations encompassed not only the horseshoe crab’s objectification (as a source of serum), but also the natural historical, the mythical, and the symbolic (in relation to its blue blood or its supposed status as a “living fossil”). We suggest that the horseshoe crab, and similarly alien or abjected species, can be valued as companion species if this concept is expanded beyond parameters such as intimacy, surprise, and “becoming-with” to include distanciation, wonder, and “becoming-because-of.”

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Section: From 1948 One Scientific Institution-the Serological Museummentioning

confidence: 99%

Companions at a Distance: Technoscience, Blood, and the Horseshoe Crab

Gisler

Michael

2011

Soc Animals

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“… Limulus polyphemus . (a) Active horseshoe crabs in a group in a natural habitat (Gisler, ). These animals are actually mating (one female ♀ and six males ♂).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limulus and heart rhythm

et al. 2018

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Great interest in the comparative physiology of hearts and their functions in Animalia has emerged with classic papers on Limulus polyphemus and mollusks. The recurrent cardiac activity-heart rate-is the most important physiological parameter and when present the kardia (Greek) is vital to the development of entire organs of the organisms in the animal kingdom. Extensive studies devoted to the regulation of cardiac rhythm in invertebrates have revealed that the basics of heart physiology are comparable to mammals. The hearts of invertebrates also beat spontaneously and are supplied with regulatory nerves: either excitatory or inhibitory or both. The distinct nerves and the source of excitation/inhibition at the level of single neurons are described for many invertebrate genera. The vertebrates and a majority of invertebrates have myogenic hearts, whereas the horseshoe crab L. polyphemus and a few other animals have a neurogenic cardiac rhythm. Nevertheless, the myogenic nature of heartbeat is precursor, because the contraction of native and stem-cellderived cardiomyocytes does occur in the absence of any neural elements. Even in L. polyphemus, the heart rhythm is myogenic at embryonic stages.

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“…Science writers (Cramer 2015) and social scientists (Ghubril 2019;Gisler 2009;Gisler and Michael 2011;Gorman 2020b;Moore 2018;Odell et al 2005) have examined horseshoe crab fisheries, the ecological connections between horseshoe crabs and shorebirds, and the long-running (and at times controversial) policy deliberations over managing these creatures. Gorman (2020a) in particular has written a prior "white paper" on horseshoe crabs and the pharmaceutical industry that we have found especially relevant to our study, focusing on animal welfare concerns that might inform current debates.…”

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Regulating Horseshoe Crabs: Sustainability and Public Health

Crunelle,

Whitney

2023

Preprint

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American Horseshoe Crabs (Limulus polyphemus) are managed as a fishery on the east coast of the United States, primarily as bait for fishing eel and whelk. In addition, Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) produced from horseshoe crab blood is used to test intravenous drugs, vaccines, medical devices, etc. for the presence of endotoxins. Limulus are also important ecologically, particularly as their spawning behavior provides food for migrating shorebirds. Horseshoecrabs are therefore entangled in a complex web of regulatory frameworks and stakeholder conflicts. This paper applies a Science and Technology Studies (STS) lens to these networks of agencies and stakeholders, and makes a series of recommendations for mitigating conflict and conserving horseshoe crabs.

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Collecting true blue blood: a journey to the heart of 1960s biology

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Companions at a Distance: Technoscience, Blood, and the Horseshoe Crab

Companions at a Distance: Technoscience, Blood, and the Horseshoe Crab

Limulus and heart rhythm

Regulating Horseshoe Crabs: Sustainability and Public Health

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