They are a fascinating species. Having faced and survived numerous extinction events, they are now under severe pressure from multiple threats. They are bled (

They are a fascinating species. Having faced and survived numerous extinction events, they are now under severe pressure from multiple threats. They are bled (harvested) not once, but twice for their blood, which holds their immuno-active ingredient. That and the pre-bleeding cleaning process severely weakens the specimens. Preferably the females are bled, since they are larger in body (and thus blood mass). Farming and pollution are two more threat vectors. Then conservation agencies are often in line / sponsored by the CROs are interested in their harvest. Disclaimer: Had a startup based on Horseshoe Crab sourced LAL. We had quite a bunch of them in our biotech startup lab.