MOSCOW, November 16. /TASS/. Snow crab, which destroys the Kara Sea bottom fauna and eats own offspring, was for the first time discovered by scientists in the Kara basin's colder and more icy eastern part, the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology's leader of the Ocean Ecology Department, Academician Mikhail Flint told TASS.
An expedition of the Academy of Sciences' experts and specialists of the Emergency Situations Ministry worked onboard the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh research/survey vessel between September 19 and October 10.
"This year we have found crab, though in small quantities, but throughout the eastern part of the Kara Sea, which is something new. This part is colder and remains covered with seasonal ice much longer than other areas in that basin. Our observations suggest that the crab is settling actively in the Kara basin, but it does not have conditions for long-term development, for formation of a strong local population," the academician said.
10 years ago, in the Blagopoluchija Bay, which is on the Novaya Zemlya coast in the Kara Sea, the scientists saw snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) for the first time. It had moved there from the Barents Sea. Two years ago, researchers noted an outbreak of its spread, but by now the crab has so much depleted the necessary food base that it has started feeding on its own offspring.
"To put it simply, it has eaten up everything it could and now it lacks food. Moreover, it has begun to eat own offspring. The cannibalism in the population has significantly hindered the species development, and the population has been shrinking. The crab will not disappear completely, but the population growth, or even its preservation at the maximum level that was observed a few years ago, can hardly be predicted due to the generally low productivity and the poor food base in the Kara Sea," the scientist said, adding that in that regard it would not be correct to eye the alien crab "as a potential fishing object."