A Chesapeake blue crab turned up on Dollymount Strand in Ireland
While the crab is not much to look at in terms of alien invaders, the National Biodiversity Data Centre has warned it is larger and more competitive than native crabs, and the female can lay up to six million eggs a year. Once in competition with the smaller Irish native crabs the American version – also known as the American blue crab, would be likely to take over, scientists fear. The appearance of the crab on Dollymount strand, where it was photographed last month by Ruth McManus, is the first recorded appearance of the crab on these shores. How it got here is a bit of a mystery, the centre says it hopes the “Dollymount One” is something of a one-off. >click to read< 15:40
Leave a Reply