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OorPancake t1_j1nrh2e wrote

They're the kind of creatures that wouldn't surprise me if they acted like nothing had happened to them when they naturally thaw out.

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Spooky_Noodle_ OP t1_j1nrndv wrote

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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Loki_the_Trustworthy t1_j1pe2la wrote

It's anecdotal but I had a gradeschool teacher who claimed to have found a frozen one that he brought home to keep its exoskeleton. He left it outside to thaw while he did some errands and came home to find his dog losing his shit because the thing was alive and running around in his backyard. I think he said he took it back to the river afterward.

Dude was a pretty sincere guy who doesn't strike me as the type to make something like that up, so I personally take it as true. I'd say there's a non-0% chance the one in OP's pic is alive.

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HighColdDesert t1_j1pogc2 wrote

Horseshoe carbs live in the ocean. Do they also live in fresh water?

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Loki_the_Trustworthy t1_j1r98sq wrote

I don't know much about them myself, so I'm not sure. If they can't survive in both, it could be he found it at the mouth of a river on the coast and didn't realize the need for saltwater himself, but I really don't remember the fine details. He was an elementary school teacher I had nearly 20 years ago, so the memory isn't fresh by any means.

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RichardNyxn t1_j1ok360 wrote

Put him in the microwave

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Aldoine t1_j1oxigi wrote

Hamster time

Edit: https://youtu.be/2tdiKTSdE9Y

TLDR: video on how scientists genuinely were freezing hamsters solid, and heating them back up with microwaves, and the hamsters were fine.

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Dorkinfo t1_j1p4464 wrote

I am very old and expected that to be hamster dance. It is not.

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rmmiz1 t1_j1tzbhb wrote

I remember studying for the UK citizenship exam.

For their scientific contributions, they tried to take credit for work done in international collaborations in Canada and Switzerland (when one team member had UK citizenship).

All the while, neglecting their own truly remarkable contributions to science, such as cryogenic freezing of hamsters and reanimation via microwaves.

It was truly sad, to see a people with such profound ignorance of of some of their best contributions to science, and such profound vanity and lack of self-awareness that they thought trying to claim credit for work supported by other nations was a good idea.

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wtf81 t1_j1oyjze wrote

I live very close to that resort and am currently where there would be frozen horseshoe crabs in Massachusetts. This seems to be an incredible coincidence.

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nectarfraiche t1_j1p0110 wrote

How was Christmas in Duxbury? ☺️

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wtf81 t1_j1p06uq wrote

I'm in on cape so not too far. It was very pleasant. How was Massanutten? How was your Christmas?

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kegareta69 t1_j1orcqi wrote

most likely still alive, leave him alone

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Wuntoothrie t1_j1pmz9t wrote

Don't know why you're getting downvoted.

There are quite a few animals that survive being frozen solid.

Fucking evolution, amiright ?

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kegareta69 t1_j1tf8vw wrote

fish and turtles get frozen solid as a natural way to be during winter!

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Wuntoothrie t1_j1tfrup wrote

Yeah, I mean, definitely not horseshoe crabs. Those puppies are dead like Liberace. I was just saying the comment didn't deserve so much hate (it was like -8 at the time I replied).

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Omnithea t1_j1pauaz wrote

Harvest the blood.

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Spooky_Noodle_ OP t1_j1pazmz wrote

Haha I live at the beach. After the big storm the past few days there was dozens of these guys washed up. Most of them are long dead, and we just let nature be

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Budget-Boysenberry t1_j1oc3wh wrote

Are they edible?

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Spooky_Noodle_ OP t1_j1oh9ez wrote

They are technically edible but they are rarely eaten. There's very little meat on them, they're mostly shell and more similar to spiders than crabs. The meat is supposedly rubbery. It's more common to eat their eggs especially in Asian countries but they have to be properly prepared or they can be toxic.

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tanyyawangg t1_j1pj4gp wrote

It’s probably just it’s shedded shell not the crab itself. The live on the ocean floor so I doubt it’s common to see them.

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euxino t1_j1ppuig wrote

Yummy popsicle

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LonelyPalpitation176 t1_j1ps1qh wrote

Where is it horseshoe crabs live in seashore which are not that cold it's unnatural.

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Wingsofthepegasus t1_j1ptiow wrote

Off topic but I totally recognise the ski tag / pass. Used to live in that area lol

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Trips-Over-Tail t1_j1ptiw6 wrote

This is the most tragic thing I've seen all day.

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Stevewhit24 t1_j1pw7kz wrote

Horseshoe crab: "I'm just chillin"

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lgary t1_j1q294k wrote

You took a horseshoe crab skiing last February 18th?

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DarknoorX t1_j1q6e8h wrote

That's one crabby tasting popsicle.

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0111011101110111 t1_j1q94j1 wrote

But did your tongue stick to it. That’s really what we all want to know.

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bear_U32 t1_j1qfcaz wrote

Wow and outside is freeze like south Atlantic Ocean gifgifgifgifgif

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sonicjesus t1_j1qjk56 wrote

Yeah, that one's broken. Probably already dead, and the fermenting gasses caused it to float.

This time of year they winter over deep in the sea, as far as 600 feet below the water surface.

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sltiefighter t1_j1qvvqg wrote

Massanutten you mean bukkake?

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