Invasion of the Giant Crabs

[Story]

Giant animals colonizing the "Antarctic abyss" may sound like a plot out of a blockbuster horror movie. But scientists say this phenomenon is now actually happening. According to a report published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, large crabs stretching almost a meter wide have invaded the edge of the Antarctic, destroying ecosystems that took millions of years to build.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...cards-headline

Got butter?

[Sig220]

Going to take a lot of rope to get the crab pots down there!!

Don't forget the lemons either.

[Thorack]

Well,

Its always fun to remind folks that when eating crab and lobster you are basically eating sea insects. Hell Aussies even callem bugs. Next if you look at the video what environment are they talking about its simply barren ocean bottom. I guess its going to be, "Save the Microbes" next.

Thorack

[kayakpirate]

Giant crabs.Yeah I had that problem once...Doctor gave
me some stuff that chased 'em off.

[W.E.G.]

The ecosystem changes in some underwater ditch and we're all supposed to give a shit?

Yeah, I'm totally parking my car because some plankton is getting eaten by crabs.

Local woman kills crabs as a full time job.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gIQA3lpTJJ_story.html

[kayakpirate]

Originally posted by W.E.G.
The ecosystem changes in some underwater ditch and we're all supposed to give a shit?

Yeah, I'm totally parking my car because some plankton is getting eaten by crabs.

Local woman kills crabs as a full time job.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gIQA3lpTJJ_story.html

A ditch thats miles below the sea.Besides...arent those the tasty kind of crabs?
I mean...if theres more of 'em now,wont that pass the savings onto us crabeaters?
Thats better right? Feeds more people at a lower cost?
I sure as shit arent eating any frickin plantton...but I've eaten a crab or two in my time.
See? Buddha provides...

[Jaxxas]

I think the problem is just a bit worse than reported!


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44523885...d_environment/

Bigger jellyfish are inheriting the ocean, study finds

Will jellyfish inherit the Earth, or at least the oceans? A study released Thursday found that the spineless creatures are becoming the dominant predator in areas where fish species are being reduced by overfishing and habitat destruction. It's not just that reduced competition is giving the jellyfish more room. The jellyfish themselves are evolving into bigger specimens by increasing the water content in their gels, the study concluded. Since jellyfish don't swim much, they mostly float, that larger mass gives them much better chances of floating into their prey — as well as into other jellyfish for sexual reproduction. Because of that evolutionary trait, jellyfish have similar potential for growth and reproduction as their fish competitors, the researchers found. "To achieve this production, they have evolved large, water-laden bodies that increase prey contact rates," the researchers wrote in a study titled: "Faking Giants: The Evolution of High Prey Clearance Rates in Jellyfish." "While fish developed visual acuity to detect prey, jellyfish depend on a primitive system based on direct contact with prey," noted study co-author Angel Lopez-Urrutia of Spain's Oviedo University. "The key to their success is that by increasing their body size they displace more water and drag more prey toward their tentacles. It's an effective strategy as long as the swimming pace of jellyfish is sufficiently slow."

[W.E.G.]

[kayakpirate]

Jellyfish have already evolved out of the ocean.
They are among us everyday...they're called liberals.

[tdb59]

A study released Thursday found that the spineless creatures are becoming the dominant predator

A study of Congress and the Cabinet?

[Jaxxas]

And now for even more....

Giant snails have Florida on search-and-destroy mission
Non-native species eats 500 types of plants — and can cause meningitis in humans




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44554988...s-environment/

[Nevarwinter]

My radiator broke. I blame Algore for inventing global warming.

Just a note here... video is about crab invasion. Only shows one crab.

[Story]

Originally posted by Jaxxas
And now for even more....

Giant snails have Florida on search-and-destroy mission
Non-native species eats 500 types of plants — and can cause meningitis in humans




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44554988...s-environment/

Pictures

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/17/140540...-eating-snails

[SWOHFAL]

Originally posted by Story


Pictures

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/17/140540...-eating-snails

Encourage the French to vacation in FL.

[easttex]

Originally posted by Jaxxas
And now for even more....

Giant snails have Florida on search-and-destroy mission
Non-native species eats 500 types of plants — and can cause meningitis in humans

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44554988...s-environment/

Florida is a good case study in what happens when you allow the wholesale importation of a hundreds of exotic species from far and exotic lands and all them to escape and roam free unchecked. (I'm referring to actual animals - not illegal immigrants!) Florida has lots of invasive species on the loose...don't you guys remember reading about the possible python invasion a year or two ago that USGS predicts could spread as far away as California?

[shlomo]

Originally posted by easttex

...don't you guys remember reading about the possible python invasion a year or two ago that USGS predicts could spread as far away as California?

An El Monte python? Say it ain't so!

[gman]

Those're king crabs, you eat them when you go to a fancy restaurant. We have'em here only 100 miles from where I live. Got Butter? Oh yeah.

4300 feet isn't "the abyss". If you look at the old National Geographics or the encyclopedia (remember those), the abyss refers to the Abyssal Plain whose average depth is 11k-15k deep. Looks like the Palmer Deep is a hole in the Antarctic Shelf.

[Story]

VietNamNet Bridge – A strange kind of snail has appeared on the Thi Vai River, which nibble shrimp and fish on the river. While local residents say they have never seen this kind of snail before, experts say it is not a strange species, but cannot say exactly what kind the snail is.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/envi...residents.html

[2barearms]

Maybe some Crab and Whale Sushi?

[kayakpirate]

[RG Coburn]

Hey! Its the Professor from Gilligan's Island!

[starbuck]

Thats nothing we have a herpes infected monkey still on the lose in Ohio.

http://www.lugaluda.com/muskingum-co...-on-the-loose/

Really this was in the papers.

[Kyrottimus]

all this included with NASA's finding that our cloud ceiling is lowering.

http://iceagenow.info/2012/02/cloud-...lobal-cooling/

[RG Coburn]

Originally Posted by starbuck

Thats nothing we have a herpes infected monkey still on the lose in Ohio.

http://www.lugaluda.com/muskingum-co...-on-the-loose/

Really this was in the papers.

I find it strange they feel the need to kill all those animals,as they don't kill off people with herpes.

[Arby]

Originally Posted by kayakpirate

Thanks, Kayak! I thought that nobody remembered that terrible film. It scared the crabshit out of me when, as a littly tyke, I saw it for the first time.

[zinj]

Originally Posted by RG Coburn

I find it strange they feel the need to kill all those animals,as they don't kill off people with herpes.

Herpes is the generic name for a group of related viruses, the type found in Macaque monkeys isn't the same as the one the causes cold sores and genital herpes in humans. In humans the macaque strain attacks the central nervous system and has something like a 75% mortality rate.

[gunplumber]

I think some people need to make a decision - let nature run its course, or constantly interfere.

Maybe the invasion of one specie and the extinction of another is hte natural course of things? Maybe the California condor is SUPPOSED to go extinct because it is stupid and too big for the changing environment?

Interfering to "save" a specie is still interfering.

[Dirt1042]

Originally Posted by easttex

Florida is a good case study in what happens when you allow the wholesale importation of a hundreds of exotic species from far and exotic lands and all them to escape and roam free unchecked. (I'm referring to actual animals - not illegal immigrants!) Florida has lots of invasive species on the loose...don't you guys remember reading about the possible python invasion a year or two ago that USGS predicts could spread as far away as California?

The Snakehead fish are a problem as well.

[akajun]

Originally Posted by Story

Pictures

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/17/140540...-eating-snails

Wonder how small they shrink when you salt em?

[cabinetman]

My son, who lives in Laguna Beach, CA, tells me that there is an untold number "escargot" snails everywhere out there. The French imported them here to try to develop a market for Americans to enjoy that fancy French dish but it never took. The snails got loose and now they are available for the picking. Mmmmmmmm........snails.

Rome

[flopshot]

I hereby decree from this day forward that anything found, discovered, invented, lost, broken or altered in any way shall be deemed to have been caused by global climate change. those that do not agree will be considered ignorant gun toting bible clinging right wing science denying haters.

[Story]

In related news -

Investigators in the US are trying to find out how a destructive species of snails entered the country. The Giant African land snail presents a health threat as they can transmit a rare form of meningitis to which there is no cure. Some of the snails, found in the state of Florida, are thought to have been imported for sacrificial rituals.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americ...651891524.html