Crustacean "Swarm" Destroying Small Hiroshima Island
Millions of tiny crustaceans are causing a small island in southern Japan to disappear at an alarming rate, according to a local expert.
The animals, tiny relatives of crabs and shrimp that are known in the region as nanatsuba-kotsubumushi, are boring into the uninhabited island of Hoboro.
...In a survey carried out in 1928, Hoboro was recorded as being 390 feet (120 meters) long and standing nearly 72 feet (22 meters) above sea level at its highest point.
Photographs from the 1960s show that the island was getting smaller but still had two distinct rocky peaks partially covered by vegetation.
All that remains today, however, is a rocky promontory about 20 feet (6 meters) high at the western end—and that is almost covered at high tide.
From National Geographic
