Posted on 09/30/2015 6:37:58 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
Warming waters on the Antarctic continental shelf could be inviting to King crabs, a predator that has been unable to live in those chilly waters for tens of millions of years.
Ocean waters are getting hotter, and that could make Antarctica crabby.
Warming global temperatures are prompting many animals to shift their ranges. One of those animals, the King crab, could be moving into shallower waters off the Western coast of Antarctica, where it hasn't been found for tens of millions of years.
The royal crustaceans, Lithodidae, now live on the continental slope off the western Antarctic Peninsula, a surprise to researchers there. Furthermore, there are no longer temperature barriers preventing the crabs from crawling up onto the continental shelf, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This is bad news for the crab's prey. King crabs, like lobsters, rays, some fish, and modern sharks, hunt by crushing shells, a tactic that Antarctic animals have not evolved a defense against.
“Marine communities in shallow water environments in Antarctica look vastly different from marine communities elsewhere in the world,” says study lead author Richard Aronson, head of the department of biological sciences at Florida Institute of Technology.
“If you were to go to a museum of natural history and look at the dioramas of life in the ancient seas, you’d be looking at something that doesn’t look all that hugely different from what you see in Antarctica today,” says Dr. Aronson. “The Antarctic communities are in a sense archaic or retrograde because they don’t have modern predators in them.”
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
The Fierce Allegiance was a top producer in season 1 of Deadliest Catch. It was involved in the precursor show Deadliest Jobs in America.
Crabbing vessels don’t come much bigger.
When you’re talking waves cresting at 100 feet high, the boat you showed a picture of will still have a tiny chance of surviving such a big wave. Especially when rogue waves can cause serious damage to much bigger cruise ships.
I’ve actually BEEN to Antarctica. This is the biggest pantload I’ve ever read. There are seals down there bigger than a Buick. They’ll figure out a way to eat King Crabs.
Just part of the formula... tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth. This is just the same “MAN MADE GLOBAL WARMING” lie with different flavored sprinkles.
Just use your favorite search engine and ask...
“are underwater volcanic eruptions warming the arctic ocean”
Then enjoy reading what they don’t want to report...
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