Thursday, February 26, 2015

Killer Shrimp May Invade the Warming Great Lakes Waters

By Alexa Lewis, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer
February 26,2015; 10:48PM,EST
 
 
(Photo/USGS)
The killer shrimp - a shrimp that will kill prey without consuming it - has a high potential for invading the Great Lakes and its history is reminiscent of the bloody red mysid shrimp that is already swarming the relatively mild waters of the region.
The killer shrimp, scientifically known as the Dikerogrammarus villosus, is a "fierce predator and superior competitor," according to NOAA. "Its ability to eat and displace other amphipods has led to the prediction of a great reduction in amphipod diversity if introduced to a variety of North American freshwater habitats."
More than 180 invasive species have already made the Great Lakes their home, making these waters and the rivers that lead into them the most frequently and vastly invaded freshwater system, according to the Journal of Great Lakes Research.
The bloody red mysid shrimp (Hemimysis anomala), like the killer shrimp, spread successfully throughout parts of Western Europe. However, it was also observed in the Great Lakes in 2006 after it made its way overseas most likely unintentionally via ship ballast tanks, compartments that hold water, according to NOAA.
(Photo/USGS)
This bright red, spotted shrimp pictured above, rarely more than half an inch long, threatens the Great Lake biodiversity as it feeds off the zooplankton that are already a natural prey for many native fish species native.
The warming surface waters of the Great Lakes are making shrimp feel even more welcomed.
"The continued warming of surface waters of the Great Lakes basin will lift thermal barriers" to invasions of species that exist in warmer waters, according to a study in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.
The red shrimp prospers in waters between 68 and 77 F but can handle 86 F water temperatures, according to researchers at the International Association for Great Lakes research, and it can survive in temperatures as low as 32 F, according to the European Network on Invasive Alien Species.

Since 1995, average surface water temperatures have increased by a few degrees for lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Ontario, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
These increasing water temperatures due to climate change could also enhance killer shrimp breeding if these shrimp reach the Great Lakes, according to NOAA.
An invasion of killer shrimp (Dikerogammarus villosus) could also threaten biodiversity and the fishery industry because it is an also an omnivorous predator. However, researchers have also observed cannibalistic tendencies in this species, when it feeds off newborns and weak adults. It may also kill or injure prey without consuming it, according to NOAA.
Legislation has already reduced the opportunity for species to invade the lakes. However, according to a news report from McGill University, a new wave of invasions are likely if regulations aren't enforced.
However, even with regulations this news report also said that climate change will complicate each scenario.


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  • PJL Photography
    Second year in a row the lakes have been completely frozen over but yet they're warming.....ummmm, okay. I can't believe these people get paid for this BS.
    • Charlyn Mosier · Sydenham High School
      Exactly.
    • Austincool Evony · Top Commenter · Evony
      you are the same type of person who sees 1+1 and gets 11 aren't you....

      from the article "Since 1995, average surface water temperatures have increased by a few degrees for lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Ontario, according to the Environmental Protection Agency."

      just to explain that for you --- the big water water lake thingy can still get all icy... it just that when you add up all the water on all the days it is a bit warmer than it used to be. That is called science.
    • Eric Rajaniemi · Top Commenter · Compliance Inspector at Bedford Regional Water Authority
      Austincool Evony don't have to be a snot about it!
  • Troy Mepyans · Top Commenter · Co-founder at Dragon-Knight Publishing
    Wow...you know you can drop the ridiculous warming nonsense anytime. We already know we're heading into a cooling trend that's likely to last at least a couple decades. Solar activity is an amazing indicator of weather on Earth!
  • Chad S Edwards · Director of Patient Transport at Crothall Healthcare
    So species that end up living and surviving in other areas are considered invasive but God forbid I call immigrants illegal for crossing national boarders.
  • Dennis P Kelly · Top Commenter · Field Agent at Knights of Columbus
    The lake temperatures are SO COLD from the past bitter winters that there were still ice floes on Lake Superior until July, last summer! The lakes are now frozen over about 95% - the highest ever recorded since we've been able to measure this phenonena. Another article showed the water is 4 inches higher in the Atlantic, but just along the NE coast - really? Is there anyone workng in these agencies with a brain? If there are small shrimp in the lake system, they would make wonderful food for the myriad speicies of fish that thrive there.
  • Michael Kubovcik · Delaware Technical Community College
    Come on really people? You are acting like weather is climate. Climate data suggest warming is occuring. If warming is occuring then you will have extreme weather patterns become more frequent. Cold cold in winter....warm warm in summer. People are confusing weather with climate way too often lately.
    • Violet J. Tolia Willis · Top Commenter · Dennysville, Maine
      Um...it was a very cool summer in both the Midwest and Northeast last year. The water is many lakes here in Maine were too cold to swim in comfortably. Trout would not bite reliable until well into May. The same will probably happen this summer too.
    • Jason Hietanen · Top Commenter
      Michael Kubovcik, What climate data? The adjusted data or the empirical data? Show me where a warming world becomes more extreme? What is the cause of this warming? (meaning natural or human).

      How does a warmer world become colder in winter yet become warmer in summer? Sounds like you are simply repeating bs that you have decided must be true.
    • Eric Rajaniemi · Top Commenter · Compliance Inspector at Bedford Regional Water Authority
      It is not confusing at all. When ice does not finally melt off of a lake untl June or July it means that the water temperature is going to tend towards the low end, unless unusual and extended warmth occurs. It must be nice to hold a position where no matter what the weather does, it automatically supports your position.
  • Karen Brown · Jacksonville, Florida
    "Since 1995" Let's just pick an arbitrary date.. You can skew the numbers better that way. Fact is the water levels are above normal, colder than normal due to multiple cold winters now. the late 90's were the end of the last warmup spell and now temperatures have been cooling for the last 17 years or more. The only reason they show a warm up in temperatures is due to the arbitrary date they used. The last 2 winters are breaking records for ice coverage which means a delay in the melt of the ice, which means cooler temperatures during the summer months.
  • Troy Mepyans · Top Commenter · Co-founder at Dragon-Knight Publishing
    And just for future reference, if you want to keep people coming to your site, I suggest you stick to simply reporting the forecast and what's happening in the weather rather than wasting your money employing "writers" that can't separate fact from fiction. Thanks.
  • Bill Helene · Top Commenter · St. Lawrence University
    "... according to the Environmental Protection Agency" <--- That. Right there. That's where the BS detector went off.
  • Kevin Privinik · Top Commenter
    Really! Do you even live in the Great Lakes? What warming waters. The ice cover has been historic for 2 years in the row now and the normally warm upper 70's summertime waters of Lake Erie have struggled to get to 70 last 2 summers. Part of Lake Superior did not melt until June last year, and it is looking like July this year. You can brainwash people who do not live in this area but not us here who are living the new ice age that begain in the late 2012
  • Gary T. Ciampa · Works at SAS Institute
    Well, considering the current ice levels in the great lakes, we just need to add some cocktail sauce and we'll have *tasty* killer shrimp.

    http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/glcfs.php?lake=l&ext=ice&type=N&hr=00
  • Winonalawns
    Did not melting ice make the great lakes..
    That is like me saying that all the new Wind Mills are causing Climate Destruction.
    I would bet if I gave 10 scientist $500,000 each they would come up with a consensus on how Wind Mills are killing our earth and we are all going to die by 2120.
    A consensus is NOT fact. its opinion.
  • Bill Steffen · · Top Commenter · Chief Meteorologist 6/28/08-present at WOOD-TV · 3,560 followers
    Over the past couple years, the Great Lakes have cooled significantly: http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/statistic/avg-sst.php?lk=m&yr=0.
  • Lora Howard Saul · Oakland Community College
    They (these shrimp experts) are probably saddled up to the public trough and have to say what ever the master tells them. So if abnormally cold great lakes is the same as warming great lakes, they just spew forth what the master says, whether it makes sense or not.
  • Creig Matters
    AccuWeather is a mediocre weather site with a penchant for Chicken Little hysterics. Change climate...change. When has it not been such? Well since the appearance of the first molecule of water it has been such.
  • Tim Thomas · Manassas, Virginia
    Yeah, this is the 2nd year in row, totally frozen over and it was 100 years since they froze over so.... maybe, just maybe, the killer shrimp don't really need warmer water to do their killing.

 

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