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Spooky_Noodle_ OP t1_j1nrndv wrote

Reply to comment by OorPancake in A frozen horseshoe crab at the beach by Spooky_Noodle_

I'm fairly certain it's dead but I also thought to myself if any animal could survive it would be this dinosaur mf

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DirtySeuss414 t1_j1nrxts wrote

Yeah I’m not positive but I feel like it’s alive and just waiting for better days

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Spooky_Noodle_ OP t1_j1nsxxg wrote

The scientist in me has to tell you that I am very confident in that a horseshoe crab would not survive this. Freeze tolerance is pretty rare, and there aren't any spiders (horseshoes crab modern day relatives) that can survive being frozen for a long period of time like this guy. Not to mention it's out been out of the water for a while by now.

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DirtySeuss414 t1_j1nw2qn wrote

:( I hate it when the scientist in you comes out to crush my horseshoe crab dreams. I accept this reality :,(

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Khaldara t1_j1oc7jv wrote

The silver lining being that for anyone long awaiting a crab popsicle, your ship has come in

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Arugula_Fan t1_j1ou6ru wrote

This could also be a molted shell. I’ve seen them a lot, looks like a live horseshoe crab, but it’s empty.

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Spooky_Noodle_ OP t1_j1pb6o3 wrote

Looked solid to me, posted an update of the other (top) side

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LoneWulf14 t1_j1p6k8c wrote

Feed into that scientist within you and thaw the little guy out. For science!

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arothen t1_j1phyz7 wrote

It's probably been dead for a while in water, got thrown out to the beach and then froze.

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Agitated-Joey t1_j1qbzqn wrote

The scientist side of me however is a little bit different. I’d throw that mf in a microwave and bring it back to life that way. You know, like how the microwave was first used and invented.

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Andire t1_j1qwr4c wrote

>there aren't any spiders (horseshoes crab modern day relatives) that can survive being frozen for a long period of time

Ah, but ya boy is far removed from anything modern!!

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truedoom t1_j1pozfk wrote

Is this why they never holiday to northern Europe?

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mcrbiddy t1_j1oshm8 wrote

it’s twice as old as the dinosaurs

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Spooky_Noodle_ OP t1_j1ossy0 wrote

This is very true these guys are ancient! Outlived the dinosaurs and maybe they'll outlive us too.

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Saoirsenobas t1_j1pgegy wrote

Not if we continue to harvest them for their blood unfortunately

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pusillanimouslist t1_j1pp3kt wrote

Not sure who downvoted you, but you’re half right. We do harvest them for blood for medical purposes, but they’re supposed to return them and the expected fatality rate is pretty low, and the total numbers taken for blood is way less than those taken for bait and food.

That being said, the process of collecting their blood is in decline. There are synthetic alternatives that are beginning to replace the crab blood route.

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Saoirsenobas t1_j1q9pdr wrote

I worked in a lab researching this a few years ago.. our studies found fatalaty rates of bleeding and transport around 33% at the time. Also the amount of blood you can collect is proportional to their size so companies were deliberately collecting females which are larger, causing extremely skewed sex ratios in the surviving wild populations (10 males: 1female). Also the synthetic substitutes are nowhere near commercially viable but the research is promising.

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OorPancake t1_j1ns1vl wrote

I think so too, but I'd still be unsurprised if it wasn't. :)

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tanyyawangg t1_j1pj7mh wrote

It’s more likely it’s the spent shell and not the crab. It’s not very common you would see a hose shoe grab being they live on the ocean floor.

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newguestuser t1_j1pyx1e wrote

Actually quite commonly seen at specific times as the ocean floor meets land at the beach. Fun to watch tourists freak out seeing the live at teh shoreline as they can look a little scary. From Google:

Limulus polyphemus is internationally listed as vulnerable. During full moons, new moons, and high tides in May and June, hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs converge on the Delaware Bay to breed.

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