A species of blue crab native to the Chesapeake Bay area has wound up on the shores of Europe, spotted everywhere from Ireland to Spain to Albania, and it’s threatening both native species and fishermen.
The Chesapeake blue crab or Atlantic blue crab has most recently turned up on the Dollymount Strand in Dublin, according to The Irish Times. The National Biodiversity Data Centre in Ireland says this species is “larger and more competitive than native crabs,” and is worried about the environmental impacts.
A citizen science officer with the centre, Dave Wall, told The Irish Times someone most likely released the blue crab discovered in Dublin last month, “thinking they were doing the right thing.” However, Wall warns releasing non-native species into different ecosystems can have dire consequences.
This species of blue crab has invaded other parts of Europe and caused huge disruption to the natural ecosystem and food chain and fishermen’s livelihoods.
They can’t get rid of them, we’re regulated on how much we can get. Teach them how to make Crab cakes. Ship them to the Somalia. Solve world hunger in a tasty way. Make lemonade out of lemons. So many come here for our Crab cakes, now they can make them at home. So many possibilities…
They’re lucky we get stuck with snakeheads
Yep, send them some Old Bay and they’ll thank us later
Go get em boys!
Their problem not ours! Who’s to say the blue crab didn’t start over there anyways? huh huh huh.
Is there documents? Is there video? Pictures from the past? huh huh huh?
(snicker snicker)
We inherited their trashy snakehead fish.