The waters off the southern tip of New Jersey are the horseshoe crab capital of the world.
The creepy looking critters have been around about 450 million years and are in high demand from pharmaceutical companies.
Horseshoe crab blood is hypersensitive to dangerous bacteria that can develop in injectable medicines and vaccines.
Now, the prehistoric creatures are playing a key role in a massive inoculation campaign involving several drug companies racing to develop, and gain approval for, a COVID-19 vaccine.
David Wheeler, Executive Director of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation, said since the horseshoe crab is a protected species, pharmaceutical companies are only allowed to collect the crabs and extract...
