#HorizonZeroDawn is EIGHT years old.
#GhostOfTsushima is FIVE years old.
I am sooo old that I still think of both of these as "new" games hehehe
#HorseshoeCrabs have watched mountain ranges rise and fall. What's eight years if your species is nearly half a billion years old?
On conservation of the local mangrove and coastal horseshoe crabs.
"Protecting and restoring mangroves, as well as establishing “coastal corridors” in areas where intensive development is ongoing, could help with the conservation of two of Asia’s mysterious seabed-dwelling organisms."
"Protecting and restoring mangroves, as well as establishing “coastal corridors” in areas where intensive development is ongoing, could help with the conservation of two of Asia’s mysterious seabed-dwelling organisms."
Protect Horseshoe Crabs 
#HorseshoeCrabs are one of the most ancient #species on the planet: They've been here since before there were dinosaurs. But in the blink of an eye — in the past three decades — their #populations have crashed. #CommercialFishers chop them up for bait, and the #BiomedicalIndustry drains them of their blood for #MedicalTesting (even though safer synthetic alternatives are available).
1/4
on an evening beach walk, i encountered what appeared to be a shrine to the horseshoe crab. there were some shells arranged side by side, encircled by plant matter washed up from the ocean.
i paid my homage and kept walking #beach #HorseshoeCrabs #oceancitynj
Limulus polyphemus — horseshoe crabs — in South Dakota! Pretty cool, IMO. (As a seashore kid, I think horseshoe crabs are awesome.)
https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/local/2024/08/27/great-plains-zoo-aquarium-horseshoe-crab-hatching/74967727007/
#nature #HorseshoeCrabs #SouthDakota
We encountered quite a few #HorseshoeCrabs today at #MonomoyNWR 
(9x16 vertical photo)
500 million-year-old #fossil is the earliest branch of the spider’s lineage, a group that includes #spiders, #scorpions, and #horseshoecrabs.
A local fossil collector in #Morocco found the specimen decades ago. https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/07/earliest-known-ancestors-of-scorpions-were-tiny-sea-beasts/
Sooooo fear of spider's developed 500 million-years minus one day ago?
Photographers shooting a high tide mating aggregation of horseshoe crabs under a Delaware moon.
Horseshoe Crabs Have Been Hiding Out in the Marsh https://hakaimagazine.com/news/horseshoe-crabs-have-been-hiding-out-in-the-marsh/
The American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) spawns regularly in salt marshes https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.2738
"#scientists have long thought that beaches are the only suitable spot for these #animals to lay their eggs. But new research from across the eastern United States now shows that #HorseshoeCrabs spawn in #SaltMarshes at roughly the same rate"
Thousands of dead horseshoe crabs are washing up on Maryland shores after having their ‘blue blood’ harvested, suit says | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/horseshoe-crabs-maryland-lawsuit-extinction-b2553334.html
#HorseshoeCrabs
#BlueBlood
#BloodHarvesting
#Maryland
#MarylandDeptOfNaturalResources
#Fishermen
#PharmaceuticalCompanies
#Pharma
#CenterForBiologicalDiversity
#Toxins
#Drugs
#TestingForToxinsInDrugs
#MedicalDevices
#CovidVaccine
#SyntheticAlternatives
The 5 to 10 millimeter long official first ancestor of scorpions, spiders, and horseshoe crabs from hundreds of millions of years ago was just described, named Setapedites abundantis, and is undergoing further study https://phys.org/news/2024-05-discovery-ancestors-scorpions-spiders-horseshoe.html
#Discovery of the first ancestors of scorpions, spiders and horseshoe crabs https://phys.org/news/2024-05-discovery-ancestors-scorpions-spiders-horseshoe.html
Lower #Ordovician synziphosurine reveals early euchelicerate diversity and #evolution https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48013-w
"Measuring between 5 and 10 millimeters in size, it has been named #Setapedites abundantis. This animal makes it possible, for the first time, to trace the entire lineage of #chelicerates, from the appearance of the earliest #arthropods to modern #spiders, #scorpions and #HorseshoeCrabs"
Good job on #MassAudubon for getting new protections for #HorseshoeCrabs in #Massachusetts. https://www.massaudubon.org/news/latest/we-won!-harvest-of-spawning-horseshoe-crabs-banned-in-massachusetts
Horseshoe crabs to be protected in Massachusetts when spawning - masslive.com
SAVE HORSESHOE CRABS FROM MASS DEATH
Dating back to before the dinosaurs, #HorseshoeCrabs are among the Earth's most ancient animals. They've survived for almost half a billion years, but now, in North America, they're at great risk: Each year the #BiomedicalIndustry "harvests" nearly a million crabs to drain their blood. That blood is used in #pharmaceuticals that save human lives — but at a terrible cost to the crabs and the species that depend on them, like #endangered #RedKnots.
1/3
@nev (sorry, what’s that last word mean? and how do you pronounce it??)
I just wanted to share this fantastic encounter with the mating #horseshoeCrabs of Cape Cod! 
"A proposal released this week by an obscure U.S. pharmaceutical organization could help end a decadeslong practice of bleeding horseshoe crabs caught along the U.S. East Coast for a protein used to test drug safety."
https://www.science.org/content/article/end-using-imperiled-horseshoe-crabs-u-s-drug-testing-sight
TIL that *in spite* of there being a synthetic alternative, biomedical companies are still catching and bleeding live #HorseshoeCrabs for use in research to detect bacteria.
Now, I'm not a biologist, perhaps there are some uses for which that blood is genuinely irreplaceable, and perhaps you really can kill/destroy tens of thousands of horseshoe crabs for it each year, without affecting overall species abundance.
Sign the petition urging the #AtlanticStatesMarineFisheriesCommission and the legislators, #governors, and natural resources departments of #SouthCarolina, #NewJersey, #Massachusetts, #Virginia, #Maryland, and #Delaware to ban the brutal taking of #HorseshoeCrabs for their blood or use as bait — including immediately nixing any proposals that will increase their exploitation or reduce protections within their natural habitats.
6/6
