||| FROM SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE |||
A Chinese mitten crab has been caught in the Pacific Northwest for the first time, raising concerns about the spread of the highly invasive species.
According to an alert from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, a commercial fisherman caught the crustacean on April 22 in the lower Columbia River, which serves as the border between Oregon and Washington. The fisherman discovered the invasive creature east of Tongue Point, a small peninsula that juts out into the river near the city of Astoria.
After making the unexpected catch, the angler took the critter to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, where a shellfish biologist confirmed it was a Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis).
The animal is a large male that may have hitched a ride as a larva in the ballast water of a boat. Or, authorities say, it could have been illegally introduced to the Columbia River by a person releasing it into the wild. (Chinese mitten crabs are a prohibited species in Oregon.)
State biologists are now working with their counterparts in neighboring Washington and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to learn whether other Chinese mitten crabs are lurking in the waterway. They plan to set up trap lines and gather water and sediment samples to look for the species’ genetic markers in the environment.
This is the first confirmed sighting of the invasive species in the Pacific Northwest. But Chinese mitten crabs are nothing new in North America.
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