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Out Of Place Animals

If you order the Seafood Ramen at my local Japanese restaurant you almost always get a whole baby octopus floating in it, always a deep red colour though I've never figured out if that's the colour it turns when cooked, or something they put in when cooking.
 
It's up to 007!

Fascinating! But I fear there's no other choice but to send James Bond back to Hong Kong. Where the Ozzies have failed, the Brits shall prevail.
 
Octopus Colouring

BlackRiverFalls said:
If you order the Seafood Ramen at my local Japanese restaurant you almost always get a whole baby octopus floating in it, always a deep red colour though I've never figured out if that's the colour it turns when cooked, or something they put in when cooking.

The cephalopods (octopi, squid, cuttlefish) on the nature programmes flash different colours and patterns like miniature LED displays. Some deep-sea varities have running lights or glow like glow-worms. They are terrific mimics--some can look like fish, sea snakes, coral, flounders, the sea bottom ... one Indonesian variety mimics about a dozen creatures.

The purple-red colour of cooked octopus, like the orange of scampi, and the red shells of lobsters, is the result of a reddish pigment being produced by cooking (or at least not destroyed). American lobsters are, for example, normally green-brown and only turn red when boiled. Red-purple colouring helps camouflage sea creatures among red algae, rocks, coral and in deep water where red light predominates..

I love cephalopods--they may be predatory and cannibalistic, but they are beautiful in their home environment and extraordinary creatures.

Here is a t-shirt idea I have had for years:

Nice old woodcut of a squid with the slogan: Save a Squid, Eat Lamb.

Actually, I am just as happy eating the squid: Homer Simpson says: Mmmm... squid.

Mmmm ... Little deep-fried calamari, tentacles browned like dried lotus blossoms. My favourite Greek restaurant moved away to the suburbs, but I buy squid rings from time to time.
 
I like the way you can use your tongue to play with the suckers on tentacles.

My parents said not to play with food. My gran said if it was dead I could do what I liked with it as long as I didn't waste any.

I loved my gran!

Kath
 
OK more out of place ocotpi (esp. odd as they aren't freshwater animals):

Illinois Fisherman Catches Octopus at Lake Conway
Thursday December 04, 2003 8:59am


Mayflower (AP) - The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says an Illinois fisherman caught a live octopus at Lake Conway.

John Mazurek of Glenn Ellyn, Illinois, caught the octopus on Monday when he saw it clinging to one of the gates at the lake's dam.

There is no explanation for how the octopus made it into the lake, but the commission said it is thought that the animal was kept in a home aquarium and when it grew too large someone dumped it into the lake.

The commission said that Mazurek's fishing license covers the catch. The only violation was dumping the octopus into the lake, which breaks rules against release of non-native wildlife into Arkansas waters.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories//1203/112648.html

An aquatic version of the ABC 'cover story' ;)

Emps
 
A follow up report with picture (which I'll attach)

[edit: oops too big - I'll resize and compress - go to the site for the larger version]

and an interesting aside on early Lake Conway monster sightings:

Illinois fisherman 'hooks' octupus at Lake Conway

Saturday, Dec 6, 2003

By Joe Mosby

Today's fishing report from Lake Conway: Bass fair, crappie very good, bream good, catfish fairly good, octopus excellent.

The venerable lake has seen and hosted its full share of oddities in its 52 years, but John Mazurek Sr. may have reached a new plateau Monday when he caught a good-sized octopus at the lake's dam.

Yes, octopus - the ocean creature of many myths, little knowledge among inlanders and several steps beyond the more familiar eye-openers like alligator gar and grinnel.

No one has a solid explanation of how this octopus got in the lake, but a common guess is someone had it in an aquarium, but the critter grew too big and was dumped into the lake. It was alive when Mazurek caught it.

He told John Harper, wildlife officer with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, that the octopus was clinging to one of the gates at the lake's dam when he saw it and grabbed it.

Mazurek's fishing license should cover octopusing. And he didn't exceed the daily limit on this species.

Only apparent violation was the dumping of the octopus into the lake by party or parties unknown. This violates rules against release of "exotic" or non-native wildlife into the wild, land or water, in Arkansas.

Mazurek lives in Glen Ellyn, Ill., and was in the Conway area on a visit. He may not be aware that he achieved a plateau that wasn't reached during Lake Conway's early days and the era of the Lake Conway Monster.

In the early 1950s, numerous reports were made about a strange and unidentified creature seen, heard and - on one or two alleged occasions - smelled in and around the lake. Guesses included bear, escaped convict, alligator, alligator snapping turtle and - most frequently and most likely - alligator gar. A similar report came forth once or twice in the 1970s. But no one suspected octopus.

In the 1950s, the reports came to a sudden halt by action of Frank Robins Jr., then the publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat. Robins simply ordered, "No more stories on the Lake Conway Monster unless they are accompanied by a photograph."

Mazurek would have satisfied the Robins decree.

Several species of octopuses live in oceans close to North America. Largest is the pacific octopus, which can grow to 30 feet and more. Some are so small they are sometimes washed upon shore inside sea shells. The Mazurek octopus may be the common octopus found in waters off Florida. At least, its size is appropriate for that species.

Debi Ingrao of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., said, "Octopuses have the most complex brain of the invertebrates (animals without backbones). They have long-term and short-term memories as do vertebrates. Octopuses learn to solve problems by trial-and-error and experience. Once the problem is solved, octopuses remember and are able to solve it and similar problems repeatedly."

There may be people in this area who could learn something from octopuses.

And no, stocking octopuses in Lake Conway was not a facet of the recently released long-term management plan for the lake drafted by the Game and Fish Commission and the Lake Conway Citizens Advisory Committee.

http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2003/12/06/JoeMosby/75824.html

I have to say my suspicion is that it is a hoax carried out by the guy who found it - it couldn't have survived long in freshwater (anyone got any ideas how long?) and so he would have had to have found it quite quickly or it was actually in a cool box in his truck ;) .

Also being discussed at Tonmo (where I got the links from):

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1613

Emps
 
Moved from News and renamed to reflect wider subject.

*Slurp*
 
Just a general thread for animals popping up in places they shouldn't be (as I couldn't find one).

Woman Driving Through South Carolina Hits Hippopotamus

POSTED: 9:20 AM EST February 13, 2004
UPDATED: 11:27 AM EST February 13, 2004
STRANGE PHOTOS: Weird News In Pictures

BEAUFORT, S.C. -- Sharon Anderson had no idea what was headed her way on a county road when her car struck and killed a pygmy hippopotamus.



The 500-pound animal had wandered away from a plantation and into the path of Anderson's car on a Beaufort County road, the Carolina Morning News reported for Friday editions.

Anderson, 28, wasn't sure what she had hit and called sheriff's deputies, who found the animal dead Monday night.

Anderson said the plantation's owner, Joel Silver, producer of "The Matrix" franchise, told her he'd owned the female hippo for eight years and didn't know how she'd wandered away.

The hippo was one of several wild animals kept at Auldbrass Plantation, a 40-acre plantation in Yemassee built by Frank Lloyd Wright. The plantation includes an aviary with exotic birds, zebras and cattle. The hippo lived in a pond.

Anderson was not injured and her car had only minor damage.

Pygmy hippos are half the size of other hippos, weighing about 400 to 500 pounds and standing about 3 feet tall. They live on both water and land and are usually found in West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast.

http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange/2845197/detail.html
 
Thu 19 Feb 2004


9:13pm (UK)

'Man-Eating' Piranha Drops in on A Thames Barge

By Pat Hurst, PA News


A deadly Piranha fish has been found on the Thames, the Environment Agency said tonight.

The 10cm killer with razor sharp teeth was dropped on to the deck of a boat on the Thames by a seagull, it is believed.

Piranha are the world’s most ferocious freshwater fish and will attack any creature in the water whatever its size – including humans.

It is thought its owner had released it into the Thames – where it soon died because of the cold and was picked up by the bird.

It was dropped on to the deck of the Thames Bubbler at Halfway Reach in Dagenham, east London – more than 5,000 miles away from its tropical home in the Amazon River in South America.

Crew on the boat, owned by Thames Water and used to pump oxygen into the water to keep fish alive, suspected it was a piranha – but could not work out what the fish was doing on the Thames.

It was fresh and had only just died with marks from the seagull’s beak still on its back. It was taken to London Aquarium to confirm its species.

Paul Hale, curator of the aquarium said: “It is definitely a Red Bellied Piranha, but it would not survive in the low temperatures of the Thames, and we imagine it was probably released and then floated to the surface where it was picked up by one of the hungry seagulls and deposited onto the boat.”

Red Bellied Piranhas (Pygocentrus nattereri) have short powerful jaws lined with razor sharp teeth capable of devouring 16cm of flesh with each bite.

They hunt in shoals capable of stripping and eating even large prey in a matter of seconds.

Experts say their reputation for attacking humans is exaggerated, but it is thought a shoal of the fish devoured up to 300 people when their boat capsized and sank near Obidos in Brazil in September 1981.

Piranha attacks on bathers have also been increasing in Brazil due to the damming of certain rivers.

But the fish can not survive in temperatures below 15C for more than a few days – and the temperature of the Thames is currently 10C.

Mr Hale said anyone on the Thames would be safe.

He added: “Piranhas are generally nervous and not the ferocious killers people think they are. They prey on weak and injured animals, including fish, birds and mammals, as well as carrion.”

The dead piranha, found on Tuesday, is being kept in deep freeze by the Environment Agency who warned it was an offence to release any non-native species into the wild.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2552546
 
Piranha hits boat in Thames

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3505171.stm

Killer fish hits boat in Thames

A killer fish has been found on the Thames in London - more than 5,000 miles (8,046km) from its tropical home in the Amazon River in South America.
A seagull is thought to have dropped the carnivorous, razor-toothed,red-bellied piranha on to a boat's deck.

It had only just died, with marks from the seagull's beak still on its back.

It is thought its owner had released it into the river - but the fish cannot survive for more than a few days in temperatures below 15C (59F).

The piranha landed on the Thames Bubbler at Halfway Reach, Dagenham, east London.

Owned by Thames Water, the boat pumps oxygen to keep the river's 119 types of fish alive.

Powerful jaws

The world's most ferocious freshwater fish, piranhas will attack any creature in the water whatever its size - including humans.

They hunt in shoals capable of stripping and eating even large prey in a matter of seconds.

And their powerful jaws can devour 6in (15.24cm) of flesh with every bite.

One shoal is thought to have devoured up to 300 people whose boat sank near Obidos, Brazil, in September 1981.

The Environment Agency said it was an offence to release non-native species into the wild.
 
oooh! I opened this just as radio 4 started on about it :D


Kath
 
Rains of fish I can just about handle, rains of piranha, oh, I don't know.
 
Aren't Pirahna supposed to be very friendly really.

I thought it's only when the water levels got low and you get them concentrated in small pools that they can go into a frenzy?
 
skitster said:
Rains of fish I can just about handle, rains of piranha, oh, I don't know.
It's a sign! It's a sign, I tell you! :eek!!!!:


Remember folks, piranha are not just for Christmas. ;)
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
Aren't Pirahna supposed to be very friendly really.

I thought it's only when the water levels got low and you get them concentrated in small pools that they can go into a frenzy?

Don't know about friendly but they are very shy fish and need to live in a shoal. That single one would have died anyway by itself through stress. They shouldn't be sold as pets in my opinion. I think people just buy them because they think its hard.
 
I'm increasingly suspicious of Pravda reports but they are fascinating:

Mysterious Footprints Appear Again

02/20/2004 13:11

Is it possible that huge sea turtles can live thousands of kilometers from the sea?

A member of the Kosmopoisk research organization reported investigation of Turtle Lake after he returned from a trip about Mongolia at the beginning of 2004. Old legends and contemporary witnesses state that lines of footprints left by some big animal appear on the legendary lake shores once a year, at the end of summer as a rule. The footprints resemble those of a turtle, but really huge ones: some footprints are 1 meter wide (ordinary turtles have footprints 30-40 centimeters wide). Biologists say that turtles of this huge size do not exist on land at all. Is it possible that huge sea turtles can live thousands of kilometers from the sea? Remoteness of the steppe lake does not allow determining to what creatures the footprints may belong.

Soviet biologists described the strange footprints of huge turtles for the first time in the 1980s. Though many people chanced to see lots of fresh turtle footprints in the mornings, nobody has ever noticed the lake creatures. It was planned to have night vigils with night vision equipment, but the breakup of the Soviet Union frustrated the plans. Now, in about twenty years, Kosmopoisk has confirmed the turtle footprints issue is not yet investigated. So, biologists are highly likely to further investigate the mysterious huge footprints.

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/12106_turtle.html
 
Well, there is a population of seals living in Lake.......damn I can't remember the name, huge great lake in Russia, unique flora and fuana, Baikal maybe, someone will know, anyway, it's a freshwater lake hundreds of miles from sea,seals have evolved into seperate speices,as have quite a few other speices, so it could be possible assuming a good food supply.
 
Piranha found in the Thames

Original Article

Piranha found in the Thames
By Valentine Low, Evening Standard
20 February 2004
WARNING! A non-native fish found on the Thames has been identified as a piranha.

The carnivore - which, when in a feeding frenzy will attack any creature, including humans - was dropped by a seagull onto the deck of a boat. It is believed to have been released into the Thames by its owner.

It had only just died when it fell on the Thames Bubbler at Halfway Reach in Dagenham - more than 5,000 miles from its Amazon home.

The crew suspected the 10cm fish was a piranha and it was taken to the London Aquarium. Curator Paul Hale said: "It is a red-bellied piranha. It was probably released and floated to the surface where it was picked up by a seagull."

The red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri), has short, powerful jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth capable of devouring 16cm of flesh with each bite. They hunt in shoals and can eat even large prey in seconds. It is thought a shoal ate up to 300 people when their boat sank near Obidos in Brazil in 1981.

But the fish cannot survive at temperatures of below 15C for more than a few days - and the Thames is currently 10C. Mr Hale added: "Piranhas are generally nervous, not the ferocious killers people think. They prey on weak, injured animals."

The dead fish, found on Tuesday, is being kept in deep freeze by the Environment Agency, which warned it was an offence to release any non-native species into the wild.
 
Michael Watson: That sounds like Lake Baikal - they are called nerpa:

Known locally as the nerpa and referred to by some scientists as Pusa sibirica, the Baikal seal is found only in Russia's isolated Lake Baikal, a designated World Heritage Site and the world's deepest, oldest and most voluminous mass of freshwater. The Baikal seal, one of the world's smallest pinnipeds, is in fact the only pinniped species that lives solely in freshwater. Individuals are also sometimes found wandering up the rivers surrounding the Lake, one seal having been found 400km upstream.

http://www.pinnipeds.org/species/baikal.htm

http://www.bww.irk.ru/nerpa/nerpa.html

It sounds like the cases of aliigators found in desert oasis which might be relic populations isolated when the Ice Age ended and the regions got more arid.

-------------------------------
A follow up on the piranha case and I think Fort would appreciate the 'explanation' provided here:

Man-eating piranha found in Thames

By Nic Fleming
(Filed: 21/02/2004)


A piranha has turned up 5,000 miles from home on the south bank of the Thames.


The Thames piranha

More accustomed to exotic South American climes, the four-inch carnivore appeared in an unlikely new setting opposite the Ford car plant in Dagenham, east London.

The Red-Bellied Piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri) is one of the world's most aggressive fish and has been known to attack humans.

However, the one found in the Thames was dead. It is believed to have been released into the river by its owner and died of the cold before being picked up and later dropped by a seagull.

The specimen, found on Tuesday on a jetty used by two Thames Water barges, had the marks of a seagull's beak on its back.

Piranha are unable to survive in temperatures below 15C for more than a few days - higher than the Thames's current 10C. Their normal diet is small fish but their powerful jaws lined with razor-sharp small teeth can strip and eat the flesh of large prey in seconds.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ira21.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/02/21/ixhome.html

Emps
 
Holly Sychcronous Postings Emps... WE posted the same story on different areas at 11:33 and some seconds... Mine's the London Standard take :)
 
Killer fish hits boat in Thames

A killer fish has been found on the Thames in London - more than 5,000 miles (8,046km) from its tropical home in the Amazon River in South America.

A seagull is thought to have dropped the carnivorous, razor-toothed,red-bellied piranha on to a boat's deck.

It had only just died, with marks from the seagull's beak still on its back.

It is thought its owner had released it into the river - but the fish cannot survive for more than a few days in temperatures below 15C (59F).

The piranha landed on the Thames Bubbler at Halfway Reach, Dagenham, east London.

Owned by Thames Water, the boat pumps oxygen to keep the river's 119 types of fish alive.

Powerful jaws

The world's most ferocious freshwater fish, piranhas will attack any creature in the water whatever its size - including humans.

They hunt in shoals capable of stripping and eating even large prey in a matter of seconds.

And their powerful jaws can devour 6in (15.24cm) of flesh with every bite.

One shoal is thought to have devoured up to 300 people whose boat sank near Obidos, Brazil, in September 1981.

The Environment Agency said it was an offence to release non-native species into the wild.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3505171.stm

20/02/04
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
Aren't Pirahna supposed to be very friendly really.

I thought it's only when the water levels got low and you get them concentrated in small pools that they can go into a frenzy?


I heard it was only if you were bleeding.
Im gonna have to dig out the old B-Movies now and check!
 
Excellent explanation!!

Police say wolverine spotted in Huron County

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

By Tom Gilchrist
TIMES WRITER



BAD AXE - A landfill near this Huron County city has imported Canadian trash, but Michigan State Police believe a garbage truck also hauled in a legendary creature: a wolverine.


"I have no idea how else an animal like this would have gotten here,"
said Sgt. T.J. Riegle of the state police post in Bad Axe.

Coyote hunters spotted and tracked the animal Tuesday in Huron County's Sheridan Township, Riegle said.

Riegle, who earned a bachelor's degree in wildlife ecology from Michigan State University, said state Department of Natural Resources employee Arnie Karr shot photos of the animal.

"Arnie is a DNR wildlife biologist and he believes it to be a wolverine," Riegle said. "I've seen live wolverines at the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, I've seen 'em on TV, I've seen stuffed ones, and based on those photos, I'm 95 percent sure that's a wolverine.

"The last confirmed sighting of a wolverine that I'm aware of was before Michigan became a state (in 1837)," Riegle said.

The Times could not reach Karr for comment this morning, but Karr's wife, 56-year-old Jan Karr, said her husband "came home on Tuesday night and said 'I just saw the first wolverine of my life."'

Arnie Karr "said this thing had huge feet, and the animal was the size of a border collie, and Arnie said it ran across the top of the snow like nothing he's ever seen before in any animal," Jan Karr said.

"He said it was just unbelievable in his movement."

Gerald W. Smithers, 60, who lives east of M-53 off Popple Road, said hunters who live near him spotted the wolverine, and Smithers called state police to report it. Smithers said the search party spotted the animal and shot the photos about seven miles southwest of Bad Axe.

Smithers said that when he first called to report the sighting, police and DNR workers thought the creature actually was a badger.

"A badger don't run across a 40-acre field like a wolverine does," Smithers said. "They're a scurrier, and this is a wolverine. They have the pictures, and these (hunters) are an honest bunch of guys."

Arnie Karr took the photos of the animal several miles from the Cove Landfill of Bad Axe Inc. at 4151 S. McMillan Road.

Riegle speculates that the wolverine may have ridden in on a garbage truck, possibly from Canada.

State statistics show that about 300,000 cubic yards of trash came to the site last year, and that some Canadian garbage arrived in 2002, but not in 2003.

Huron County Prosecutor Mark J. Gaertner, who has been investigating whether the landfill illegally accepts hazardous wastes, said the dump does take Canadian trash.

Riegle doesn't believe the wolverine will be a threat to Huron County residents.

"I don't see it as a danger to the community because wolverines are not very good hunters," Riegle said. "They tend to exist on carrion, of which we have a great supply of at this time of year with all these car-deer accidents.

"He - or she - shouldn't have any problem finding something to eat. The animal has the ability to take down a farm animal, but it's very unlikely. They're just not built for that kind of activity, unless they get real hungry."

The destruction of wilderness has driven the wolverine from its historic habitat across the northern United States, including Michigan. In America today, the elusive member of the weasel family is known to exist in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, California and Washington.

http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1077727699153900.xml
 
I think Wes Craven made a movie about piranhas with wings, maybe that`s how it got there.
 
Another report and a picture (attached):

1st Mich. Wolverine Spotted in 200 Years

Wed Feb 25, 4:47 PM ET


By DAVID RUNK, Associated Press Writer

DETROIT - A biologist has confirmed the sighting of a real Michigan wolverine, about 200 years after the species was last seen in the state that uses the small but ferocious animal as its unofficial nickname.



Coyote hunters spotted a wolverine near Ubly, about 90 miles north of Detroit. Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Arnie Karr saw the forest predator Tuesday and snapped pictures of the animal as it ran out of the woods and across a field.

The wolverine, a member of the weasel family that grows to about 25 pounds but is ferocious enough to fight off bears and wolves, once ranged across the northern and western United States. It is now limited mostly to northern Canada, Idaho and Alaska, with sightings in a few other states, but its last confirmed sightings in Michigan were by fur traders in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The appearance is "up there with having a caribou or a polar bear turn up," Department of Natural Resources spokesman Brad Wurfel said Wednesday. "It's unprecedented."

How the scrappy animal returned and even whether it ever really left are mysteries in the state, where the best-known Wolverines are athletes at the University of Michigan.

Raymond Rustem, supervisor of the natural heritage unit in the department's wildlife division, said the wolverine could have traveled to the state, been released or escaped from captivity.

"What it means, who knows?" Rustem said. "When you take a look at the wolverine, there's always been this debate about whether wolverines ever were a part of Michigan's recent past. Some evidence shows that, some says no."

The wolverine was on Michigan's endangered species list until the late 1990s, when it was removed because it wasn't expected to return, Rustem said. Conservationists asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to put the animal on its endangered list in 2000, but the agency in October declined to study whether the species should be added.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040225/ap_on_re_us/wolverine_sighting_2
 
Giant Crabs

Just read this new story about a army of giant crabs, Bloody Stalin!. -

More Than 10 Million Giant Crabs Invade Europe, Telegraph Says
Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- More than 10 million giant Pacific crabs, each weighing up to 25 pounds (11 kilograms) and with a claw-span of more than three feet (1 meter), are moving south along Norwegian coastlines, the Telegraph reported, citing fishermen, environmentalists and government officials.

The crabs, called Kamchatka or Red King crabs, have moved about 400 miles (644 kilometers) and could travel as far south as Gibraltar, the paper said. They are descended from crabs introduced to Europe in the 1930s by Josef Stalin, the paper said.

They can survive on almost anything, including kelp, dead fish, seaweed and fish eggs, and they eat crushed shells for calcium, the paper said, citing Lars Petter Olie, a Norwegian diver. Northern clams and other shellfish, which were abundant, have been nearly eliminated by the crabs, the paper said.

Their population is exploding because they have no natural predators, the paper said, citing Andreas Tveteraas, an Oslo-based analyst with the World Wildlife Fund. Some experts are calling for government to sponsor a ``blitz'' to stop the crabs, the report said. On Jan. 1 Norwegian authorities lifted some restrictions on crabbing along the shore, the paper said.

Some fisherman welcome the crabs, whose meat is similar to the finest lobster and can fetch around 200 Norwegian kroner ($28.6) per pound, the paper said. One leg provides a filling meal for a grown man, the paper said. site)


There is a link to the sun newspapers page which has a pic of one. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004092942,00.html
 
Giant Alien Stalinist Crabs Invade Norway

Thank God! Nobody seems to have posted this story yet. You don't get a chance to use a headline like the one above more than once or twice in a blue moon.


Attack of Stalin's monster crabs

An explosion in numbers of a species of giant crab is causing concern amongst environmentalists.

Millions of Kamchatka or Red King Crabs have already spread around 400 miles south from northern Norway.

The monster crustaceans, which were introduced to Europe by Stalin in the 1930s, have a claw span of more than three feet and can weigh in at 25 lb.

More than 10 million have reached the Lofoten Islands in northwest Scandinavia, all but eliminating populations of other species such as Northern clams in their wake.

Andreas Tveteraas, an analyst for the World Wildlife Fund in Oslo told the Telegraph that urgent intervention is needed to halt their march.

"This animal has no natural predators and it's an alien species in the Berents Sea," he said.

"Some scientists say it will stay in the north because of the temperature but others think it can go as far south as Gibraltar."

The crabs are caught for food by Norwegian fishermen, but only in small numbers because of seasonal licences and regulations limiting boat size.

Ecologists are not yet clear on the scale of the crabs' possible impact, though it is feared that the deep sea dwelling crustaceans eat the eggs of the caplin - a major source of food for cod.
 
More on Alien Species

I should have put this thread in the Mainsteam News stories perhaps, but who cares? Some random facts and thoughts on alien invasions (the mad-made kind):

Canadian beavers introduced into Argentina are becoming a horrible ecological disaster, worse even than in Germany. Thousands of them are building enormous dams on the island to which they were introduced as an attempt to foster a fur industry, and they have reached the mainland.

Over 50,000 species have been introduced into North America. Quite a few were introduced by the Shakespeare Society which aimed to introduce every species mentionned in Shakespeare.

From Central Park in 1886 (if I recall correctly) the English Sparrow has spread out over almost the entire range inhabitable by sparrows. Not quite as annoying as pigeons or rats, but definitely quite as adept at surviving in cities. Whole weeks go by that I do not see any living thing in the downtown core of Ottawa other than sparrows, pigeons, gulls, and rats (occasionally also rabbits and raccoons). And, of course, that other nuisance species, homo sapiens.

A new species is introduced into San Francisco Bay every two weeks on average.

The introduction of Europeans into North America has wrought horrible ecological damage and a devastating multiplication of reality television shows.
 
Re: More on Alien Species

littleblackduck said:
Canadian beavers introduced into Argentina are becoming a horrible ecological disaster, worse even than in Germany. Thousands of them are building enormous dams on the island to which they were introduced as an attempt to foster a fur industry, and they have reached the mainland.

:wtf:
 
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