Shrimp Is Secret Ingredient in New US Army Bandage explains that chitosan-rich shrimp shells, in a base of vinegar and other chemicals, staunch bleeding:
Shrimp shells and vinegar may become staples for U.S. Army troops in Iraq — not as rations but in a new bandage that staunches heavy bleeding in minutes.A team of Portland, Oregon-based scientists searching for a solution to an age-old problem — how to keep soldiers from bleeding to death on the battlefield — stumbled on the kitchen pantry combination and, through high-tech wizardry, turned it into a super-sticky, combat-ready field dressing.
The new bandages are going to the Persian Gulf.