[ad_1]
FILE – This June 6, 2018, a folder photo shows a green crab in Portland, Maine. A researcher at the University of New England has said that green crabs from Nova Scotia are older and more angry than their cousins in the Gulf of Maine. (AP Photos / Robert F. Bukaty, File)
(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.)
Talk about being crabby.
The angry green crabs of Nova Scotia, more angry than their green cousins already adorned with Maine, migrate south. According to a study by Markus Frederich, a professor at the University of New England, they started destroying the coastal ecosystem off the coast of Maine because they eat more than their share of soft-shelled clams and wrecks .
"What we see is this level of insane aggression," Frederich told The Associated Press.
THE SPIDER WEB GIANT STRETCHES 1,00 FEET THROUGH THE LAGOON: THEY HAVE A 'PARTY'
Although green crabs are related, they are genetically different from each other. The angry Nova Scotia crabs have their roots in northern Europe and have adapted to the cold water, while the slightly quieter version of Maine came from the south of the US. Europe.
They entered the United States for the first time in the mid-1800s, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. After arriving in Maine in the 1950s, they caused a decline in the clam population and eventually moved to Nova Scotia.
"The green crab is most often confused with native helmet crabs or hairy shore crabs," the Ministry of Fisheries and Wildlife wrote on its website. "The most distinctive feature is not its color – which can vary from reddish to spotted dark green – but the five spines or teeth on either side of the shell.There are three rounded lobes between the eyes, and the last pair The legs are a little flattened, the shell is wider than it is long and rarely exceeds 3.5 to 4 inches in diameter. "
Louis Logan, a graduate student from the University of New England, had the unpleasant task of labeling captured crabs in Nova Scotia waters for research. The crabs were not in the mood for games.
At a distance of 5 feet, the pint-sized brutes took a fighting position. Those who caught it were not in a hurry to let go.
"Every time I went to get one, they came to get me," he writes in an email.
One of them, in particular, would jump out of water in his attack frenzy.
INDIANA MAN WARN LOCAL SITES OF "PREVENTING" Giant Spiders after spotting a 6-inch worker
During the research, the two groups of green crabs raged on a bed of eels and the Canadian species destroyed them. Frederich compared the damage to that of Edward Scissorhands, looking for marine organisms to eat.
Green crabs are known to be particularly disturbing to existing ecosystems. The University of Washington has given advice on what to look for and what they do if they are found.
Additional studies will be conducted in the coming months to determine if a specific gene plays a role in aggressiveness or if a factor called hybrid vigor is at stake, Frederich said. Hybrid vigor theory suggests that crabs may be more aggressive as they become established, but will disappear later.
The quarrelsome newcomers currently only account for about 2 to 3 percent of the green crabs crawling on the bottom of the ocean off Maine, but these numbers will certainly increase, Frederich said.
"It will be a totally different ball game," he predicted. "It's just a question of when more crabs are competing with Maine's green crabs."
Finally, newcomers will go further south. "We can not do anything about it," he said. "The only thing we can do is learn to live with."
Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia
[ad_2]
Source link
