
500 dead horseshoe crabs have washed up in Japan - wuschel
http://www.sciencealert.com/500-horseshoe-crabs-have-mysteriously-washed-up-dead-in-japan
======
nosuchthing
Aside from the apocalyptic theme from the website maintainer, this is quiet a
comprehensive list of mass animal die offs that have been reported since 2011,
when these reports begin skyrocketing.

[http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/animal-deaths-birds-
fish-e...](http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/animal-deaths-birds-fish-end-
times.html)

[http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2015.ht...](http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2015.html)

[http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2014.ht...](http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2014.html)

[http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2013.ht...](http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2013.html)

[http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2012.ht...](http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2012.html)

[http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2011.ht...](http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/mass-animal-
deaths-2011.html)

------
stevegeary
Say goodbye to the blood harvest, an Irish startup are making a biosynthetic
replacement!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Wg9nqdlZU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Wg9nqdlZU)
[http://www.irishtimes.com/business/innovation-awards-
sothic-...](http://www.irishtimes.com/business/innovation-awards-sothic-
bioscience-could-save-horseshoe-crab-from-extinction-1.2739195) (disclaimer: I
work for Sothic)

~~~
loeg
What is the blood harvest and what does Sothic replace? I'm confused.

~~~
sehr
_Few people know it but the horseshoe crab is the unsung hero when it comes to
medical devices and pharmaceutical products. The blood of the crab has unique
properties that make it ideal for giving an absolute guarantee that an
injectable product or implantable medical device absolutely sterile._

------
mmanfrin
"Mysteriously".

My first thought (and indeed the end half of the article) points potential
blame at the 'harvesting' of blood. Horseshoe crabs are captured, have some
blood drained, and then are released. Maybe some group is getting a little to
zealous with the harvest.

~~~
giarc
>Those harvesting this 'blue blood' say they're not killing the crabs to
obtain it, but reports have shown that even if crabs that are returned to the
ocean afterwards, they tend to die earlier than those that had been left
alone.

Looks like it might not be as harmless as they thought.

~~~
p42
Considering that they are thrown back into the ocean without parts of their
immune system, I find it a miracle that they survive at all.

The "harvest" looks pretty gruesome to me:
[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/02/the-
bl...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/02/the-blood-
harvest/284078/)

~~~
anexprogrammer
"The industry says that not that many of the animals die. Between 10 and 30
percent of the bled animals, according to varying estimates, actually die"

Doesn't really fit my view of not that many. We seem determined to ruin
everything we go near.

------
giarc
>But now after surviving the last five mass extinctions on Earth, their
numbers are suddenly starting to dwindle.

We are fucking things up so badly. Are we actually on track to fix the damage
from climate change? Are we doing enough? Are people willing to live with what
is really needed to stop climate change? This thing survived 5 mass
extinctions, are humans what was really needed to kill it off?

~~~
wuschel
"Are we doing enough?"

This question is spot on. We have this planet, our habitat, in our hands.
Overexploition of natural recources can bring our ecosystem in dire straits,
and us with it. We can loose so much. About time to use technology to change
this. And about time to change out behaviour en masse.

~~~
mynewtb
Meh, gotta rewrite our frontend in Angular 2 to impress YC and cash out on our
IoT razor blade disposal community.

~~~
wuschel
I take that as bleeding edge sarcasm :^)

There are many startup endeavours that aim to use tech for the better of our
ecosystem e.g. all the startups affiliated with the New Harvest Community
([http://new-harvest.org](http://new-harvest.org)).

~~~
beamatronic
>> blade disposal

>> bleeding edge

------
petre
And of course gloabal warming is to blame.

