2 died, 5 hospitalized after eating poisonous horseshoe crab in Trat

Two people in the southeastern province of Trat have been confirmed dead while five others were hospitalized after eating lethally poisonous mangrove horseshoe crabs. 

Health officials in Trat repeated warnings this morning for people to be careful before consuming horseshoe crabs, which are a staple. The mangrove variety is poisonous, however, and is blamed for the deaths of two residents in the seaside province located next to the gulf.

There have been cases of people occasionally misidentifying mangrove horseshoe crabs, aka the round-tail horseshoe crab, which contains a toxin, for the Indo-pacific horseshoe crab, which jas a tail covered by a sturdy carapace. The latter species is not poisonous and safe to eat. 

Trat health officials this morning published infographics warning people to make sure they carefully detect and differentiate the two species of…