Hybrid green crab species threatens N.L. lobster – also eat clams, scallops and even each other
They’re fearless. They can live for weeks out of the water. They will eat anything, even each other. “They were born ferocious,” said Cynthia McKenzie, a scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans based in St. John’s. McKenzie is one of a group of researchers who have identified a species of green crab that is ravaging parts of Newfoundland’s south coast. Fishermen in Placentia Bay, on the southeast coast, first noticed green crab in 2007. “When a lobster spawns … the green crab is there to eat it,” said Clarence Marsh. “I think the green crab got a big effect on the lobsters, and that’s why there’s none here in this bay now.” The green crab are “numerous,” said Marsh, and they don’t stop at eating lobster. He has also found tiny green crabs inside scallop shells. Click here to read the story 10:42
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