This tiny crab is causing big trouble.
Elkhorn Slough is a 7-mile-long river in Monterey, California. Many animals, including seabirds, sea lions, shrimp, sharks, and otters, call this swampy sanctuary home, but not every animal is welcome. Researchers have been trying to remove the invasive green crab for years.
The green crab is extremely invasive. Because it lacks many predators, NOAA Fisheries considers it "one of the most invasive species in the marine environment."
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Absolutely 💯 The green crab first appeared in America in the 1800s and in the California river in 1994. While its population has decreased, its impact on the river's ecosystem is huge. The green crab has a big appetite, eating oysters, clams, fish, and crabs while destroying native eelgrass.
While conservationists weren't happy to see the green crab in the environment, the river's local otters certainly were. The otters have made quick work of the green crab, and its population is finally diminishing.
Invasive species can wreak havoc on the environment. Even a tiny crab can disrupt ecosystems, outcompete essential species for resources, and throw everything out of balance. Thankfully, consistent developments in conservation have given researchers tools for tackling nonnative plants and animals, such as using drones to keep rats at bay and analyzing stray DNA to track population numbers more accurately.
Some methods, such as otters eating crabs, might feel a little impractical, but they work. This isn't the first time conservation efforts have employed native animals to eat invasive intruders. In 2023, researchers in Michigan released thousands of wasps to kill off an invasive fruit fly that was devastating fruit farms.
Rikke Jeppesen, an ecologist at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, is happy the otters are getting the job done.
"I've studied green crabs in estuaries on three coasts and two continents for decades, and this is one of the first pieces of good news we've gotten," Jeppesen said, per Phys.org.
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