death stranding blog: you are here
art blog: @expuppet
tachypleus gigas, one of four extant species of horseshoe crab, is found in the coastal waters of south & southeast asia. its names, both scientific and common, are misnomers — it is not a true crab (instead closer related to arachnids), nor is it the largest of the limulidae family as ‘gigas’ may lend one to believe.
horseshoe crabs are considered ‘living fossils’, as they have changed very little in the 250 million years since their first appearance in the triassic period. they are harvested for their blood, which has the unique application of being utilized to create LAL/TAL, an extract of blood cells which allow for the detection of bacterial endotoxins in medical/pharmaceutical settings. (some pharmaceutical companies have recently begun the transition to synthetic isolated rFC, from an enzyme found in LAL which effectively serves the same purpose.)
