Horseshoe theory

Comments

• snooggums@midwest.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  When humanity found out how long horseshoes crabs had been around, unchanging and perfect, they decided to name their divine human leaders after them.

  That is why royalty are called ‘blue-bloods’.

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  • Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I was taught it was because nobility were the only pale Spaniards in the middle ages, so they were the only people whose skin showed through the blue color of the veins. So they claimed their blue blood showed their divine right to royalty.

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    • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      whose skin showed through the blue color of the veins

      Would this not be the other way around? Blue veins show through the skin?

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    • Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Blue-blooded means inbread.

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  • Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Sacre-bleu!

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• casmael@lemm.ee ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  You • may • not • like • it • but • this • is • what • peak • performance • looks • like 🦀

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• ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  So like I know horseshoe crabs have been around nearly unchanged and all. And good for them!

  But are you (general you, not op specifically) really trying to tell me that not once in their entire historical span of time on earth… not one single time did anything evolve from a horseshoe crab?

  Clearly I’m not saying the whole species changed, but that is separate from an offshoot population evolving into something different. Which surely must have happened, no?

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  • ItsAFake@lemmus.org ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    one single time did anything evolve from a horseshoe crab?

    We don’t talk about those cowards.

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  • theneverfox@pawb.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Weirdly enough, evolution isn’t random - it follows rules. We’re still figuring out what those rules are, but it does in fact reach a certain point, then lock down the genes.

    Horseshoe crabs are chemically incredible, they’re extremely resilient and physically pretty good for their niche

    Maybe they are a genetic endpoint

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    • ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Do you have any citations for that?

      I’m not saying you are wrong, because I’m open to new information, but that’s not ever been my understanding of how evolution works, and I’ve read a ton on the topic.

      Evolution continues even if a species doesn’t obviously change over time. Unless it’s an asexual reproducing species, gene recombination ensures some level of diversity, and more opportunity for novel traits. But even a clonally reproducing species have a chance for mutations, they are just significantly more likely to be detrimental than useful.

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    • flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Wait, so it’s stops before ‘the heat death of the universe’? That’s bizarre!

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  • Flyberius@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It probably did, you are right. Also, what about internal stuff. Who is to say that their plumbing hasn’t evolved considerably over the eons?

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• Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  No reason to evolve if you’re already a crab.

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• ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Two things: first, horseshoe crabs almost certainly have changed/evolved considerably over four hundred million years, just in aspects of their physiology that aren’t fossilized. Second, horseshoe crabs have like nine different types of eyes; even that tail is essentially one big eye, covered in photoreceptive cells. We humans consider ourselves the “dominant” species, but I don’t think we could handle crawling around in slime and mud for four hundred million years quite as well as they have.

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  • Johanno@feddit.de ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Nah we drain the mud and build a road on it to run over our children. Much better.

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• PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Why aren’t these things considered Trilobites exactly? They look like Trilobites and I’m pretty sure they fill some of the same general niches? Is it just a taxonomical thing? Are they just not in the right clade?

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  • omxxi@feddit.de ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    a-z-animals.com/…/trilobite-vs-horseshoe-crab-wha…

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    • brisk@aussie.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      This reads like it was written by an LLM

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  • Pipoca@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Not in the right clade, basically.

    They look similar, but aren’t directly related. It’s similar to why legless lizards aren’t snakes, and bats aren’t birds.

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    • apolo399@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      But snakes are legless lizards. Link to youtube

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• alien@lemm.ee [bot] ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Even the speech bubbles look like them

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• sylveon@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Obligatory individuals don’t evolve, populations do.

  I know it’s just a silly meme but misconceptions about evolution unfortunately seem to be pretty widespread.

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  • giffybiss@lemmygrad.ml ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    if individuals don’t evolve then explain why I jave a Charizard.

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• whereBeWaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Aren’t these the guys who drink blueberry smoothies?

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  • Dumbkid@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Yeah then they go down the waterslide

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• ExfilBravo@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Who knew horseshoe crabs were the Pikachu’s of the sea?

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• alphapuggle@programming.dev ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Horseshoe Crab

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• CloutAtlas@hexbear.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  What? They evolve into Kabutops.

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• Zerush@lemmy.ml ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Perfection is the end of evolution

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