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What have you got to say about the topic of: "Asian Crabs...................fact?". Here's how is started: "By Jay Lindsay, Associated Press writer BOSTON -- It's tiny -- 2 to 3 inches "
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12-06-2006, 08:22 PM
| #1 | ||
  Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: VOODOO GRILL, MYSTIC
Posts: 3,173
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 By Jay Lindsay, Associated Press writer  BOSTON -- It's tiny -- 2 to 3 inches wide at most -- but the voracious Asian shore crab has launched a mighty invasion on the rocky shores of the Northeast, and some scientists are worried about what that could mean for the local environment. The Asian crab first appeared on American shores in New Jersey in 1988. It's since made its way as far north as the Isle of Shoals in New Hampshire, and as far south as North Carolina. Scientists expect that it will keep moving north, possibly as far as Canada. And they're concerned about long-term ecological effects of the move, because the crab reproduces rapidly and eats just about anything in its path, including shellfish seedlings. "The basic thing is that scientists don't know how this is going to spin out," said Robert Buchsbaum, coastal ecologist at the Massachusetts Audubon Society's North Shore office. The crab is indigenous to waters from southern Russia to Hong Kong and likely came across the ocean in the ballast waters of a foreign vessel. It was first discovered in the U.S. by a biology student at Franklin & Marshall College during a class trip to Cape May, N.J. "When I saw it, I said, 'It doesn't belong here,'" said John J. McDermott, the student's professor at the Lancaster, Pa., school. Now, unchecked by natural predators and boosted by a lengthy reproductive season, the crab has been found in concentrations as thick as 100 per square meter in parts of southeastern New England. Its population is currently spotty from Boston's North Shore to New Hampshire, but scientists say it probably won't be long before the crabs become common all around northern New England, scampering from underneath the rocks where they hide. Despite the quick spread of the "bioinvader," the Asian shore crab probably isn't a threat to commercially important species, such as mussels and clams, McDermott said. It will eat shellfish, along with a variety of other species like barnacles, but so far it's focused on algae and sticks to rocky areas where those species are scarce. Some believe the Asian crab may even benefit clammers because it could crowd out green crabs, another alien species, which eats clam seedlings and is generally despised by clammers. The biggest ecological concern is the crowding effect caused by the crab proliferation. But it's unknown exactly which species will see population drops because of the crab, and how that will affect the local environment, Buchsbaum said. The notorious purple loosestrife weed is an example of how severely an alien species can affect the environment, Buchsbaum said. The weed has destroyed animal habitats around the country. Judith Pederson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sea Grant program is monitoring the Asian sea crab, partly in hopes of an early recognition of the crab's potential ecological impact. "It can have an effect on some species we may be interested in," Pederson said, "but it will happen before we realize it." | ||
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12-06-2006, 08:28 PM
| #2 | ||
  Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Clinton, CT
Posts: 2,802
| I know they kill the green crabs if I leave them in the same bucket under the dock for awhile. Hopefully they'll increase the tog population and size. They do seem to love these guys.
__________________ Smoke free 8+ Months!  | ||
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12-06-2006, 09:43 PM
| #3 | ||
 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Exeter, Rhode Island
Posts: 3,637
| Who the hell are THEY bulllshitting? I was catching asian crabs in the EARLY eighties as a kid and selling them to the bait shops! Somebody's f-ed up here.......:cwm21:
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12-07-2006, 07:27 PM
| #4 | ||
 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Home
Posts: 501
| Eric what do you think? I think it is typical bureaucratic bull$hit 
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12-07-2006, 07:56 PM
| #5 | ||
  Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: www.atlanticoffshorelures.com
Posts: 1,220
| you might be able to get a prescription to take care of those things | ||
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12-08-2006, 09:47 AM
| #6 | ||
| Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Exeter, Rhode Island
Posts: 3,637
| Maybe I was just a dumb kid, and it took a "researcher" to find one for them to be discovered...... 
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12-08-2006, 09:59 AM
| #7 | ||
| NBS Member  Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Westbrook CT
Posts: 1,318
| I caught a crab in my trap this year that had the claws of an asian and the shell of a green with white spotted legs. I kid you not. I wish I had a camera with me to take a picture. Is this the shape of crabs to come, Mutated hybrid? I wonder if it had superpowers. | ||
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12-08-2006, 12:23 PM
| #8 | ||
| NBS Member Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 166
| Sounds like my wife minus the super powers.
__________________ You can respect the sea or she can take the respect from you. | ||
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12-08-2006, 12:51 PM
| #9 | |||
| Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: www.atlanticoffshorelures.com
Posts: 1,220
| Quote:
LOL ...Reminder to self Change password on computer so wife don't get in... | |||
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