Shinyeng WuFeng 

Ian Murphy

Freshman composition

September 13, 2021

Horseshoe Crab’s Impact On Humans 

In order to publish a vaccine or any pharmaceutical drug, they must be tested to see if they are safe for humans. In the middle 20th century, rabbits were used widely to test vaccines and pregnancy drugs. They were chosen just because they were cheap and easy to maintain. The use of rabbits was very inefficient. The safety of a drug does not usually create an instant effect and the amount of toxic bacterias is not well measured. People will have to wait at least 10 days to see the effect of the drug being used and create observations. However, researchers in 1971 discovered that “horseshoe crab’s blood will immediately bind and clot around fungi, viruses and bacterial endotoxins”[3]. This discovery was super important to the medical field because all medicines must be safe to use. Doctors were able to use them to test the level of contamination in drugs. When performing a surgery , their existence can not disappear. 

Mark S. Garland, creator of the science magazine article, in his article “An Ancient Lineage Worth Saving” claimed that people should pay respect and attention to horseshoe crabs, by using irony and pathos.  However, people do not usually know the importance of this little creature. Horseshoe crabs are considered a living fossil where we can see nearly 450 million years ago. After mentioning the benefits of horseshoe crabs, Garland referred “Unregulated harvest of American horseshoe crabs was permitted until just a few years ago( before 2004), and the efficacy of current harvest limits is the subject of considerable controversy”[4]. Garland used irony in this passage by mentioning the down side of people. Although horseshoe crabs benefited the human society a lot, people take it as a chance to harvest them without morality. The irony here is displayed as killing our own life saviors. Instead of using the efficient way of utilizing horseshoe crabs, humans choose the most destructive way to harvest them. It is similar to harvesting crops without leaving roots or seeds. This could mean that horseshoe crabs might become a scarcity. Considering that the rapid decline in population of the American horseshoe crabs led to very recent regulation on harvesting horseshoe crabs, there is a possibility that horseshoe crabs can become endangered. Further on, Garland mentioned about how horseshoe crabs have difficulty in passing on their generation, where he stated “Birdwatchers and other amateur naturalists make annual pilgrimages to favorite beaches to witness this phenomenon and to see the immense flocks of shorebirds and gulls that feast on the horseshoe crab eggs”[4]. The use of irony and pathos in this passage is that horseshoe crabs are not as lucky as other animals. Even though they lived for about 450 million years, they still have difficulties in passing down their offspring. Adding up to harvesting horseshoe crabs and their population, they will not be expected to have their population increased. Garland used patho and irony to bring up attention to the audience about horseshoe crabs. Patho was used by mentioning the difficulty of passing down offsprings and irony was used by mentioning the bad intention of humans toward horseshoe crabs. This shows that Garland’s purpose was to convince people to pay more attention to horseshoe crabs. The targeted audiences in the science article magazine are people who are interested in science. The information presented in the magazine was very broad and they are only an overview of the topic with horseshoe crabs. The writer’s tone was very formal, and every point in his writing was focused on the importance of horseshoe crabs. There was no first-person points of view in his science magazine which makes it very formal.

Life science weekly, creator of the news article, in their article “Studies from T. Maloney and Co-Researchers Yield New Data on endotoxins” claimed that their team had done research and collected data on horseshoe crabs and shorebirds population. Their research stated that “The bleeding of live horseshoe crabs, a process that leaves thousands dead annually, is an ecologically unsustainable practice for all four species of horseshoe crab and the shorebirds that rely on their eggs as a primary food source during spring migration”[1]. The purpose of this article is to inform people that bleeding horseshoe crabs is not an efficient way to utilize horseshoe crabs. The main targeted audiences in this article are worldwide biologists and people who are interested in the biomedical field. The article is created to inform scientists to figure out if there is any solution to help.  The tone that the author used in the news article is informative and the stance is to claim that bleeding horseshoe crabs will have a great impact on the population of the horseshoe crabs and shorebirds. In the article , the team confirmed that “the biomedical industry can achieve a 90% reduction in the use of reagents derived from horseshoe crabs by using alternative for testing of water and other common materials used in the manufacturing process”[1]. Here, the team informed that the biomedical field people are able to create alternatives of horseshoe crab’s blood. The rhetorical device used here to appeal to audiences is ethos. Life Science Weekly used facts to make their claim stronger and more convincing. The word “can” creates a strong and demanding feeling, which makes people think that it is a hundred percent achievable. In fact, people don’t realize that it could still be challenging for scientists to achieve creating living creature’s blood. The ethos in the article were convincing because they are scientists and researchers from Life Science Weekly. They used their authority as scientists to claim that the solution is achievable. 

David R. Smith, creator of the peer reviewed journal, in his article “Conservation status of the American horseshoe crab” claimed that risks of the population decrease in horseshoe crabs are interconnected. One claim in his article stated that “Horseshoe crabs within México have conservation protection based on limited and fragmented habitat and geographic isolation from other regions, but elevated risk applies to the horseshoe crabs in the Yucatan Peninsula region until sufficient data can confirm population stability”[2]. Smith was stating that isolating the horseshoe crabs will lead the same species of horseshoe crabs from nearby regions to reproduce less. The horseshoe crabs will find less mates and they will be likely to produce less. Here, we can conclude that once the horseshoe’s population decreases, it will be hard to increase. The rhetorical device here that Smith uses is logos. Smith used logic in his peer review journal to state how different factors can lead to the population decrease of the horseshoe crabs. Using multiple factors to appeal to the audience about the risks applied to horseshoe crabs is convincing. The main purpose of the peer reviewed journal is to inform people worldwide who are interested in the extinction state of the horseshoe crabs. Smith also stated that the major threats to the American horseshoe crabs varies from region to region. One example he gave was “an emerging threat is the importation of Asian species for use as bait in the whelk and eel fisheries in the Mid-Atlantic region with the associated risk of introduction of pathogens, parasites, and non-native species[2]”. In this passage, he was explaining that the He also concluded that the threat varies over time. The population of horseshoe crabs is greatly dependent on human’s society. The tone of the journal is formal and informative. His stance in the journal is shown based on the facts that he gave. Most of his facts and data are based on the North American region which are related to the Atlantic horseshoe crabs. This shows that his peer reviewed journal would be targeted more to the people in North America regions, despite the fact that audiences are worldwide scientists.

“Facts About Horseshoe Crabs and FAQ”, a website article published by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission claimed that horseshoe crabs are extremely important to our ecosystem. In their article, they stated that horseshoe crabs’ eggs serve as “the major source for shorebirds migrating north, including the federally-threatened red knot”[3]. Their eggs are vital to the red knots regarding their conservation status. The rhetorical device used here is appeal to logos. The author explained that horseshoe crabs are linked to every part of the ecosystem. In wildlife, they serve as the main food source of sea turtles, alligators, horse conchs, and sharks. Without horseshoe crabs, the population of these animals will be very likely to decrease as well. The author built a linkage using the ecosystem information of the wild life. The major targeted audience are likely to be people in the U.S because they gave fun facts about how to protect and not hurt the horseshoe crabs. One quote they gave as an advice to people who go to the beaches is “Never pick up a horseshoe crab by its tail, as it can harm the animal. Instead, gently pick it up by both sides of the prosoma using both hands”[3]. In here we sense that the tone of the author is casual and it feels like they are talking to a friend. The purpose of this article is to inform people about the importance and history of horseshoe crabs to people who read casually and people who are active in the wild. 

In conclusion, there are still a lot of challenges in horseshoe crabs. There were a lot of concerns about horseshoe crab’s over all population and morality behind harvesting horseshoe crabs. The way people harvest horseshoe crabs is to wait till they go near the shore and pick them up when they are in mating season. As Garland mentioned in his magazine, not only humans will interrupt their population, horseshoe crab’s eggs are also eaten by seagulls and other birds. One solution to the problem that the researchers in Life Science Weekly brought up is to create a copy of horseshoe crab’s blood. This is still challenging till this day, since there were many factors that could be leading to the decline of horseshoe crabs as Smith mentioned in his peer reviewed journal. 

Work cited

News source

“Studies from T. Maloney and Co-Researchers Yield New Data on Endotoxins (Saving the horseshoe crab: A synthetic alternative to horseshoe crab blood for endotoxin detection).” Life Science Weekly, 30 Oct. 2018, p. 3764. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A560194679/ITOF?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5c9c4c81. Accessed 20 Sept. 2021. [1]

Peer reviewed journal

Smith, D.R., Brockmann, H., Beekey, M.A. et al. Conservation status of the American horseshoe crab, (Limulus polyphemus): a regional assessment. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 27, 135–175 (2017). https://doi-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/10.1007/s11160-016-9461-y Accessed Sept 29, 2021. [2]

Website source

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Facts About Horseshoe Crabs and FAQ. 

Facts About Horseshoe Crabs and FAQ | FWC (myfwc.com). Accessed Sept 20, 2021.[3]

Magazine

Mark S. Garland. An Ancient Lineage Worth Saving vol 304, issue 5674 p1113. 21 May 2004. 

https://www-science-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/doi/10.1126/science.1097435 Accesssed Sept 29, 2021. [4]