Time comes for us all. [OC]

pics@lemmy.world – 221 points – 3 months ago

pixelfed.crimedad.work

UPDATE: https://pixelfed.crimedad.work/p/crimedad/717794020275353272

cross-posted from: https://pixelfed.crimedad.work/p/crimedad/715310569850044948

Time comes for us all.

We found this dead horseshoe crab on the beach today. It had a numbered tag on its shell apparently put there by The Maryland Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office. I've seen many horseshoe crabs here over the years, but never one with a tag. I made sure to go to the website and log it.

#beach #shore #NewHavenHarbor #HorseshoeCrab #conservation

@crosspost@lemmy.crimedad.work

440 million years old, and someone goes and staples a tag to me?

God damn it so much

It looks like a CD to. Bro went and stapled his mixtape to a crab

I didn't know that they lived that long.

That's how long the species has existed. They live ~25 years.

Only the lucky ones

Especially now that they're harvesting them for blood.

It's an important ingredient for the safety of injectable drugs and the crabs are returned to the sea alive. If a synthetic alternative takes off, I am concerned that the government will not care as much about protecting this species.

It's sad and crazy that raw "usefulness" is one of very few motivators to put effort into protecting things at a national level.

Everything is a hostage standoff negotiation to capitalism. :(

"Why should I care about you?"

"But you need me!"

"...Fine."

And then there are cats. Who destroys your favorite tableware? Who scratches all your furniture except the one made specifically for that purpose? Who walks over your keyboard?

"Meow!"

"Oh well, all right then, haha!"

They probably did that to try to learn more about their longevity and habits

Lol I love how innocent your comment is. In a thread of jokes and sarcasm you come in with the pure intention of informing. Cheers friend🍻

Hello? Government? Your crab is dead

Imagine you had never seen a crab before. Then someone shows you a picture of a true crab and says "this is a crab". Now imagine after that you are shown a horseshoe crab. There's no way you would think that's also a crab.

Just give it some time. Eventually, everything will return to crab

Well taxinomically, they aren't actually crabs or crustaceans. More closely related to arachnids.

Aren't crabs in general just like the spiders of the sea?

They may look like it but they aren't closely related at all

Huh, TIL

I mean, if you flip it over and look at the legs it's kind of crabby looking.

Go to the beaches in Delaware full moon around 6/15 and it's mating time for the crabs. It's a spectacle when there are thousands of them on the beach at once!