Giant crabs make Antarctic leap Up to a million king crabs are discovered on the edge of Antarctica, probably carried by warm water, raising fears for the local ecosystem. The researchers sent the Genesis, a submersible remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from the University of Ghent in Belgium, into the Palmer Deep in March last year. The idea was to look at what life was down there, rather than specifically to look for crabs; and the team was somewhat surprised by how many they found. Judging by the density of the crabs and their tracks, the scientists estimate there may be 1.5 million crabs in the basin. A female crab retrieved from the area was found to be carrying mature eggs and larvae. “Our best guess is there was an event, or maybe more than one, where warmer water flushed up across the shelf and carried some of the larvae into the basin,” said project leader Craig Smith from the University of Hawaii.

Giant crabs make Antarctic leap

Up to a million king crabs are discovered on the edge of Antarctica, probably carried by warm water, raising fears for the local ecosystem.

The researchers sent the Genesis, a submersible remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from the University of Ghent in Belgium, into the Palmer Deep in March last year.

The idea was to look at what life was down there, rather than specifically to look for crabs; and the team was somewhat surprised by how many they found.

Judging by the density of the crabs and their tracks, the scientists estimate there may be 1.5 million crabs in the basin.

A female crab retrieved from the area was found to be carrying mature eggs and larvae.

“Our best guess is there was an event, or maybe more than one, where warmer water flushed up across the shelf and carried some of the larvae into the basin,” said project leader Craig Smith from the University of Hawaii.


1 year ago
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# conservation
# crabs
# climate change
# oceans
# antarctic
# science
# research
# study
# deep ocean
A pregnant female whale shark is a juicy mental picture indeed.  I mean, if the whale shark is the largest of all fishes, how gargantuan must be a big ol’ mama, turgid with a teeming horde of spotty little kiddies?  And what must it be like when that next generation finally bursts forth into the world, all 25 dozen of them?  Well, Dr. Schmidt has some slightly disappointing news: they probably don’t erupt quite so dramatically.  That’s because the offspring they studied covered the full gamut of developmental stages from barely-formed, to ready-to-pop little mini-adults. That means the female likely gives birth over an extended period, releasing a few here and few there as each embryo reaches maturity.  This result implies that pregnancy might be a very prolonged affair in whale sharks, and it also raises the possibility of multiple paternity: the idea that different embryos might come from different matings with different males.

A pregnant female whale shark is a juicy mental picture indeed.  I mean, if the whale shark is the largest of all fishes, how gargantuan must be a big ol’ mama, turgid with a teeming horde of spotty little kiddies?  And what must it be like when that next generation finally bursts forth into the world, all 25 dozen of them?  Well, Dr. Schmidt has some slightly disappointing news: they probably don’t erupt quite so dramatically.  That’s because the offspring they studied covered the full gamut of developmental stages from barely-formed, to ready-to-pop little mini-adults. That means the female likely gives birth over an extended period, releasing a few here and few there as each embryo reaches maturity.  This result implies that pregnancy might be a very prolonged affair in whale sharks, and it also raises the possibility of multiple paternity: the idea that different embryos might come from different matings with different males.

2 years ago
30 notes
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# conservation
# research
# marine biology
# sharks
# ocean