Orrkagyló

Orrkagyló is a Hungarian term that translates to "horseshoe crab" in English. Despite the name, it is not a crab at all but rather a marine arthropod belonging to the order Xiphosura. Horseshoe crabs are ancient creatures, often referred to as "living fossils" because their morphology has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of millions of years. There are currently four recognized species of horseshoe crabs worldwide.

These marine animals are characterized by their distinctive horseshoe-shaped carapace, which covers their body. They possess a long, spiky tail called a telson, used for steering and righting themselves if flipped over. Horseshoe crabs inhabit shallow coastal waters and are often found on sandy or muddy bottoms. They are important components of their ecosystems, serving as a food source for various birds and fish.

The blood of horseshoe crabs is a unique blue color due to the presence of hemocyanin, a copper-based oxygen-carrying protein. This blood has a remarkable ability to detect and trap bacterial endotoxins, a property that makes it invaluable in the medical field for testing the sterility of drugs, vaccines, and medical devices. This process is known as the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) test.