The morphology and toxin properties of horseshoe crab from coastal area of Johor

• Main Author: Siti Nur Afiqah, Binti Mainong
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS 2012
• Subjects: GE Environmental Sciences; SH Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6282/4/Afiqah%28fulltext%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6282/

This study was carried out to describe the morphological characteristics and to identify toxin properties of horseshoe crab from coastal area of Johor. In morphological analysis, the characteristics of specimen (i.e telson, genital operculum, body segmented, and spinal zone) were recorded and described. Based on the characteristic analyzed, two species have been identified as Tachypleus gigas and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda. A total of 44 individuals of horseshoe crab were collected during this study and the total length, carapace width and total weight were measured. The mean of total length, carapace width and the total weight for Tachypleus gigas were recorded as 37.17 cm, 20.83 cm, and 750.0 g, respectively. For the male of C. rotundicauda were 28.34 cm, 12.72 cm, and 145.0 g, respectively while for female of C.rotundicauda were 31.08 cm, 14.02 cm, and 239.38 g, respectively. The relationship between carapace width and body weight were positive for T. gigas female with higher degree of correlation, r=0.87 but for C. rotundicauda female (r= 0.311) and C. rotundicauda male (r=0.085) showed negative relationship with low degree of correlation. For toxin analyses, Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry Detection (LCMS/MS) were performed. In the TLC analysis, all samples of horseshoe crab exhibited fluorescent spot with Rf value ranged between 0.23 to 0.26 and matched with Rf value for the standard of tetrodotoxin (TTX). In LCMS/MS, the amount of TTX present ranged between 0.624 MU/g to 297.67 MU/g. The edible tissue of eggs of T. gigas female was a non-toxic while the samples of C. rotundicauda were moderately toxic and some were weakly toxic. This study strongly inferred that Johor horseshoe crab, C. rotundicauda is toxic while T. gigas is non-toxic.