Green Glossary: Crab Invasion
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"Notch another one up for global warming: though once limited by the Antarctic Ocean's frigid waters, rising sea temperatures in the region have made it possible for a wave of new species—crabs and other fast-moving predators—to make a return,' writes Jeremy Elton Jacquot at TreeHugger.com. "This return, millions of years in the making, could fundamentally alter the region's species distribution—and cause many to simply disappear."
Larry O'Hanlon of Discovery News explains: "Global warming is setting the stage for an invasion of predators on the sea floor around Antarctica, the likes of which have not been there for more than 40 million years. Back in the late Eocene epoch, predatory animals such as sharks and crabs were driven away from Antarctic depths when the continent and its surrounding waters turned into an icebox, said researchers on Friday at a symposium at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. The result was a virtually predator-free zone on the seafloor and a paradise for worms, sea lilies, clams, brittle stars and other bottom-dwelling animals."
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