"Intersection of Ancient Biology and Cutting-Edge Medicine

Horseshoe crabs have inhabited Earth for over 450 million years, a living fossil drifting
through evolutionary time. Their blood—blue from copper-based hemocyanin rather than
our iron-based hemoglobin—is central to modern medicine.

Within that blue blood are amebocytes, immune cells that instantly clot around bacterial
endotoxins, making them invaluable for testing the sterility of vaccines, surgical implants,
and IV drugs. It's an ancient defense mechanism of these timeless creatures now pressed
into the service of human health.

To extract this biological “blue “gold, around 30% of a crab’s blood is harvested, and the
animal is then returned to the ocean. But the process is not without consequence. Many
Horseshoe crabs don’t survive the ordeal, and those that do may suffer disrupted mating
behavior and long-term physiological stress—raising ethical concerns about our over
dependance on these timeless ancient creatures. I marvel at the very best blue “bloods”
among us on earth. My Blue Blood constructed painting series celebrates the unbroken
thread of evolution that flows through us all due to the (Limulus polyphemus) Atlantic
horseshoe crab."

Martha Jackson Jarvis