Balasore: Few people are aware that the blue blood of Horse Shoe crabs, found along Balasore coast up to Kendrapara, is a key ingredient for making a chemical for detection of cancer and AIDS.
Experts lament that there have been no efforts for conservation of this species.
Indian pharmaceutical companies earn huge foreign exchange by selling the blood of horse shoe crabs to their clients in the US, China and Japan.
These species are also found in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and China among others.
Their blood is blue and that is why it is called blue-blood crab. These crabs are shaped like horse shoes. A male crab weighs between 200 gm and 300 gm while a female crab can weigh up to 800 gm.
“The state government can fetch foreign exchange to the tune of crores rupees per annum if conservation efforts are made for these crab species, apart from doing research on their commercial viability,” said researcher Prof Bishnuprasad Das of FM University and lecturer of Sidheswar College, Gobinda Chandra Biswal.
Scientist Anil Chatterjee, Prof Das and Biswal have long been carrying out research on the blue-blood crab with their own money and efforts.
Significantly, the trio has visited Japan, Indonesia and other countries and presented their research papers at several conferences.
They rue that the government has paid no heed to the need for carrying out in-depth research on these rare crab species, which hold a lot of medicinal value for dreaded diseases like AIDS and cancer.
Indian biologists have confined their research to Limulus Polyphames, the crab species available in the US, but have not turned attention to the species available in the Indian sub-continent, they said.
According to researchers, the horse shoe crabs available in America lay eggs in a certain season of the year while their Indian counterparts in Balasore coast lay eggs throughout the year. Their eggs look like grains of green grams but are destroyed for lack of conservation efforts. Indian researchers conduct studies on American species of horse shoe crabs while no attention is paid to Indian species.
Balasore DFO Harshabardhan Udgata is helping the trio in their research work.
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