space fisherman

But during the shelling process, its mortality rate is also very high, and it feels like it is risking its life.

Horseshoe crab eggs shed their skin four times inside the egg membrane before they hatch.

Judging from the shape of the newly hatched first-instar juveniles, they are very similar to adult horseshoe crabs, but they do not yet have the characteristic tail sword.

The body length of the second instar is about 10mm, and the tail sword, which was not present in the first instar, also grows significantly during this period.

It's strange that they can swim on their backs.

But they generally like to dig into the sand and crawl in the mud.

Horseshoe crabs do not grow very fast. They need to shed their shells 16 times (one shelling is called an age, but it does not shed once a year. Horseshoe crabs shed their shells more times when they are young) and it takes 9 to 12 years to reach maturity.

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Ye Yuan could tell at a glance that the two horseshoe crabs Liu Hongguo brought to him were already mature, which was very rare in China.

In the past, horseshoe crabs were not very rare creatures. Until the end of the 20th century, the previously unknown horseshoe crabs suddenly became famous.

The reason why it is suddenly sought after is that the horseshoe crab's compound eyes and blood have made huge contributions to mankind.

The compound eye of the horseshoe crab is composed of 800-1000 ommatidia, each of which is an independent visual unit.

But in addition to visual cells, the ommatidia also has one or two special eccentric cells.

The eccentric cells between adjacent ommatidia are also connected by lateral branches (lateral nerves).

All information from the outside world needs to be transmitted to the brain through eccentric cells.

The famous physiologist Hartland used microelectrodes and other electrophysiological experiments to prove it.

When the illumination area expands from one ommatidium to a nearby ommatidium.

Instead of increasing, the intensity of the electrical pulse emitted by the previous ommatidium decreases.

This means that when an ommatidium is excited by light, the ommatidia around it are inhibited.

It turns out that inhibition is the result of the action of lateral nerves in the eccentric cells of the ommatidium, which is called "lateral inhibition".

Studies have pointed out that due to lateral inhibition, horseshoe crabs can extract and process the received visual information.

Enhance the edge contrast of the viewed image, omitting details and highlighting outlines.

This improves subjective clarity.

This ensures that the horseshoe crab can see objects clearly on the seabed, accurately hunt for prey or effectively avoid enemies.

For this discovery, Hartland won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Medical Physiology.

According to the principle of lateral inhibition.

Engineers use it to transmit television images to obtain clear images.

But that's not the main reason horseshoe crabs are called an endangered species.

The reason why he is rare is because of his blood.

The horseshoe crab's body is extremely special, especially the blue blood in its body. Of all the biological clocks discovered by Blue Star so far, only the horseshoe crab's blood is blue.

In 1955, scientists discovered that the blue blood of horseshoe crabs contained a special type of cells that could detect bacteria and endotoxins. So scientists quickly extracted the blood and developed the "limulus reagent."

In medicine, this reagent can quickly detect human flesh-eating bacteria. To put it simply, as long as you have been vaccinated and injected, you will have a contribution to the horseshoe crab.

As a horseshoe crab who has made great contributions to mankind, his end was not very good.

Their blood is drained, their meat is sold to restaurants, and even their shells are sold to processing plants.

It was not until the past thirty years that people suddenly discovered that the number of horseshoe crabs was declining sharply. At this time, people realized that horseshoe crabs had become endangered and needed to be protected as soon as possible.

Ye Yuan saw the man's cautious look and knew that he must know the value of these two horseshoe crabs.

But what he didn't understand was why the man wanted to give this thing to him?

Gu Lu

"You saved my child. I know you have money, but you can't buy this thing even if you have money."

The man said very sincerely.

Ye Yuan was a little dumbfounded. He really didn't expect that this man would actually give him a pair of protected animals.

The man saw Ye Yuan's expression and knew what he was thinking. The man left without saying a word and without looking back. Although the man left, the pair of horseshoe crabs were left behind by him.

Ye Yuan understood this man's mood. He planned to use these horseshoe crabs to thank him, even though they were nationally protected animals.

But on the coast, there are some people who dare to charge these at high prices. This is no secret.

Just like wild yellow croaker, although it is a protected animal, isn't it still sold in many high-end restaurants?

Looking at the man's leaving figure, Ye Yuan did not stop him.

First, he knew that the man really wanted to thank him, and he could completely understand this feeling.

Secondly, he didn't want the pair of horseshoe crabs to be taken away by lawless elements.

If the man doesn't give this pair of horseshoe crabs to himself, he will probably sell them at a high price.

Since you have received such a heavy gift, you should do something to help.

Thinking of this, he contacted the hospital. Ever since Ye Yuan showed his amazing suturing speed, the director of the county hospital had called him frequently in the past few days.

He had always wanted Ye Yuan to be a consultant to him, but how could Ye Yuan agree to such a thing.

When Ye Yuan took the initiative to call the dean today, he was very excited:

"Xiaoye, have you figured it out?"

"Dean Wang, please stop talking about going to your hospital. I don't even have a medical qualification certificate."

Before Ye Yuan could finish speaking, Dean Wang interrupted him directly:

"If you are willing to come, I will help you with these things."

"Don't try to persuade me. Really, I want to ask you about your child today."

Ye Yuan didn't want to say more on this matter and directly stated the purpose of the call.

"The child is recovering very well. Our hospital attaches great importance to it. Now he lives in a single room. This is already the best ward in our hospital."

As soon as Dean Wang heard about the child, he was no longer interested. However, the child was very important to the county, so he still understood the situation relatively well.

"I think the child's family is in a very difficult situation. If the medical expenses are not enough, please tell me. Then I can consider the child saved..."

Dean Wang understood the meaning of Ye Yuan's words, and then said with a smile:

"You don't have to worry about this. Medical expenses are free. This is something we decided at a meeting. We are not as snobbish as you think."

"Okay then, call me if you have any questions."

After saying that, Ye Yuan directly hung up the phone without giving Dean Wang a chance to speak again.

He knew how the hospital could be so kind. If it weren't for Zhang Jingkuan's sake, it would be impossible to give him a discount, let alone a full exemption.

Now that the man's family no longer has the big problem of medical expenses, Ye Yuan has not thought about how to repay the gift of horseshoe crab for the time being, but he doesn't take it very seriously.

After all, he saved the child by himself. Even if he took the horseshoe crab and did nothing, it wouldn't be too much.

He glanced at the pair of horseshoe crabs lying quietly on the bamboo.

The first thing that came to mind was to send it to Professor Su and the others.