"Living Fossils" start wash up on shores of Southern Japan
Q. What sea creature is known as the “living fossils” as they are among the earth’s oldest creatures?- Published on 17 Sep 16a. Sea Horsea.
b. Horseshoe crab
c. Sea Anemone
d. Octopus
ANSWER: Horseshoe crab
A vast number of horseshoe crabs have washed ashore dead in Southern Japan. They are among the earth’s oldest creatures, which is why they are called “living fossils”
- Horseshoe crabs are known for blue blood.
- They visit the tidal plats in SW japan where they lay eggs in summer.
- This year, a local conservation group reported that the number of precious marine anthropoids were unusually high.
- Amount of dead crabs was 8 times more than the usual during the fertile season, numbering 500.
- Numerous academics pointed to oxygen shortage due to higher sea water temperature or parasitic disease associated with horseshoe crabs as a possible cause.
- Japan’s environment ministry calls these helmet crabs endangered species which have declined sharply due to coastal habitat destruction in association with Japan’s economic development.
- No concrete measures have been taken to prevent the fall in numbers so far.
- Horseshoe crab called Kabutogani in Japanese means “warrior helmet carb” and it has survived for 200 million years.
- Japan Horseshoe Crab Association was formed in 1978; it counted the dead crabs this summer.
- The biology of the horseshoe crab is a mystery according to experts; not much is known about it.
