Discovery of Horseshoe Crabs Blue Blood that Detects Endotoxins:
Horseshoe Crab population continues to decrease
By. Hena Kim
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As the knowledge of science and medications advanced in the past centuries, many intellectuals, such as scientists, innovators, and doctors, experimented to search for cures for each disease that caused harm to humanity.
As a result, vaccinations and injections were invented in 1791 by Dr Edward Jenner, an English physician and scientist. However, in 1892, the new term "endotoxin" was introduced to the world by Richard Pfeiffer, a British pathologist who created typhoid vaccination in 1896 while researching cholera bacteria. He discovered that the host bacteria create these endotoxins, and the toxins remain on the cell's cell wall. Once the host bacteria decompose or die, the toxins also could be released into the body, which could later cause high fever, chills, septic shock, or even death. This was the main problem since the existence of endotoxins in vaccinations could cause more significant consequences to the patients.
Nevertheless, this issue was solved due to the discovery of a marine organism called the horseshoe crab. In the 1960s, scientists discovered horseshoe crabs' blue blood could detect multiple bacterial toxins, particularly endotoxins. Since then, these scientists have used the blood cells of horseshoe crabs to test their medical products and check whether they contain any endotoxins to keep their patients as safe as possible. The horseshoe crab's blood cells were also used for COVID-19 vaccinations before release for safety.
However, the willingness to test more medical products with the horseshoe crab's blood increased as scientists and other intellectuals created more vaccinations. Thus, continuing human exploitation of the horseshoe crab led to a tremendous decline in the population in recent decades. It was discovered that fishermen capture 1.4 million of them each year for the use of bais, and pharmacy companies capture 700,000 of them and extract their blood continuously to test for endotoxins. In total, more than 30 percent of horseshoe crabs die due to human exploitation, and many of them are captured before laying eggs on the shore, which the population only decreases. Their population decline has also disrupted the food chain among other animals. The eggs of horseshoe crabs are known to be rich in energy for birds living near the shore. However, as the number of eggs decreases, these birds lose the food source that benefits their species. This demonstrates that the horseshoe crabs are now heading to extinction, especially on the East Coast, and many international organizations, such as The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, have mentioned that they failed to restore the population of the horseshoe crab that existed even when dinosaurs existed on Earth.
In conclusion, the greed of humans to create a healthy vaccine and earn more money is only leading to the extinction of the horseshoe crabs that existed before humans evolved on Earth. In the case of horseshoe crabs, the discovery of their blue blood only harms their population, and their abundance cannot be restored anymore, so their population would only continue to decrease as time passes. Many scientists are currently discovering more organisms that would aid them in detecting endotoxins for humanity's benefit. This discovery of organisms seems not to end, at least in this century.
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Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/opinion/drug-safety-horsehoe-crab.html?searchResultPosition=1
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Horseshoe-Crab
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