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How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

author:Agent in the box

Do you know that the crayfish we eat is not really lobster, but a kind of shrimp family?

Now let me tell you that the king crab is not a crab, but a crustacean of the stone crab family.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

King crab

Good fellow, I can't tell what I've eaten this year.

We know that crayfish are one of the most tragic species that have invaded the continent, and because the number is still quite large, the price is not excessive.

But the king crab is different, it is not only big, but also expensive, at this time people have to say, is it because of the small number?

Well, king crabs are rare in our country, but did you know they're already flooded elsewhere? If we are caught, it will not be enough for us to eat for a while.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

King crab is not something you can eat casually

But if you look at its intrusion capabilities, you probably won't think so.

Next, let's understand, how terrible is king crab? Not only did it sweep across Europe but it also invaded Antarctica, and every time you eat one, you save the world.

King crabs invade Antarctica

In September 2011, Belgian scientists found more than 1 million giant king crabs in a basin 850 meters above the continental shelf off the coast of Antarctica.

Many people said that if they were to catch them back, it would not be sent!

You know, if you want to eat a king crab in China, you have to spend a lot of money.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

This huge army of crabs

The weight of king crabs ranges from about 5-10 pounds, and if you want to buy live king crabs, it is estimated to cost thousands of yuan.

You can imagine how much more than 1 million king crabs have to sell!

But that's not what scientists have in mind, and in the Royal Society Journal, Series B: Biological Sciences, they say that these king crabs may have been living there for 30-40 years.

King crabs are highly aggressive animals, with most of the small marine life such as krill in Antarctica.

With its huge body, the king crab has obviously caused serious harm to the local ecology.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

King crabs have taken root in Antarctica

Even as global temperatures warm, they are likely to continue deep into the heart of Antarctica and may even climb to the main continental shelf of Antarctica.

This will undoubtedly further damage the local ecology and seize food for land creatures, such as penguins and seals.

So some people say that every king crab eaten now is saving the planet.

King crabs are extremely destructive

Has it really flooded to this point? Just look at the destructiveness of king crabs.

We said earlier that the king crab is not a real crab because it has two legs less than a crab.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

King crabs have large long legs

But that doesn't diminish their destructiveness, because they can have a big advantage in terms of size.

The arm span of a king crab can reach 1.8 meters, which is already equivalent to the height of an adult man.

The slender legs make them very flexible when preying on the seabed, and the king crab's favorite food is starfish, sea urchins and other spiny creatures.

And the king crab's large pincers are also extremely destructive, and many shelled animals cannot avoid suffering from its "poison".

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

King crabs can be attacked or defended

Especially in antarctica, there are no natural enemies of them, and even if they do, their thick carapace gives them enough "defense" capabilities, so if they are not controlled, they are likely to occupy the sea.

The invasion of king crabs

However, it is reasonable to say that although king crabs prefer to live in cold waters, they basically stay in the ocean at a depth of about 850 meters, and the favorite water temperature is 2-5 ° C, and the minimum temperature that can survive is 1.4 ° C.

But apparently the water temperature in Antarctica is significantly lower, and they should not have come here.

So how did they relocate to Antarctica with their families, and why did they break the law of "rare things are precious" and still sell for high prices? This brings us to the migration journey of the king crab.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

Tempting king crab

Among the king crabs, the common ones are the red king crab, the blue king crab, the golden king crab and the South American king crab.

One of the most common of these is the red king crab, which was originally distributed in the North Pacific, but also in the Bering Strait, the Sea of Japan, Alaska and kamchatka.

This part of the area is off the beaten track, so few people went here to catch king crabs at the time.

It is worth noting that king crabs do not get a very small living environment in these places.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

Kamchatka

At this time they mostly lived in shallow sea areas, although there were enough plankton here for them to eat.

But at the same time, it is more difficult to escape the attack of natural enemies, so many king crabs are already food for other animals before they grow up, so their populations are not large at this time.

The first stop is the Barents Sea

It wasn't until the 1960s that Soviet scientists conducted research on the Kamchatka Peninsula and took king crabs to the Barents Sea when they returned.

Coming to the Barents Sea is like coming to paradise, because it is also a high-latitude area, and it is still a cold sea, so it is very suitable for the growth of king crabs.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

Barents Sea

The only difference is that the ecological chains of the two places are not the same, and the Barents Sea lacks the natural enemies of king crabs.

And after first coming to the Barents Sea, a lot of industries for breeding king crabs have developed, so their early growth environment is very superior, and they no longer worry about growing up.

There is a saying that "when you grow up, your wings harden", and when placed on the king crab, the carapace is firmer and the legs are longer.

So he took advantage of the fact that the farmers were not paying attention, and ran away into the wild, so they began to flood on a large scale in the Barents Sea.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

King crab in the deep sea

How strong are king crabs in their reproductive capacity and survival? You can responsibly tell you that every year a female king crab can produce tens of thousands of small crabs, and when the baby crabs have passed their 2nd birthday, they can go to the deep sea to be alone.

By 2016, there were more than 50 million king crabs in the Barents Sea.

Norway, near the Barents Sea, has also made a fortune from these king crabs.

Continue to expand your territory

But king crabs are not satisfied with the status quo, but continue to expand.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

King Crab: If you don't run, you only have to be eaten

The Barents Sea, one of the land-bound seas belonging to the Arctic Ocean, began to invade Svalbard, followed by Britain, and then "occupied" Europe.

The "king crab" is basically in a colder area everywhere it goes, so there are fewer more powerful predatory marine organisms here.

So if there is no human fishing, then these areas will become "marine deserts" like the Barents Sea.

Some people say that these invading king crabs did not come to send money to Europeans, after all, king crabs are so precious now.

There's really nothing wrong with saying that, but once these king crabs flood, they will affect the entire fishery, and then it may be more than worth the loss.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

Svalbard

In the face of such a large number of king crab families, we still have a problem that has not been solved, that is, why is it still so expensive?

King crabs are not easy to catch

You may have forgotten which sea these flooded king crabs are in, whether it is the Arctic Ocean or Antarctica, which is now running to Antarctica, but it is not a good place to catch.

These areas simply do not have the means of year-round fishing, and the time to go to sea is only two months, which does not mean that the sea surface will be calm at this time.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

The Arctic Ocean is terrible

As long as you go out to sea, it is difficult for people to stand on the deck with strong winds and waves, so many times, a king crab fishing will only last for about 5 days, and in these few days, you will catch the number of the previous year.

Therefore, fishing king crab can be said to be a very high-risk occupation, according to statistics, 356 people will die every 100,000 people, so there are not many professional crab catchers.

And everyone who goes out to sea to catch king crabs needs to get a license, even in Norway, there are only more than 200 people who can go to sea, so although there are so many king crabs, we have a limited number of fish.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

The fishing scene was horrible

Speaking of this limitation, Russia and Norway have also signed restrictions before, and the number of king crabs caught every year is stipulated, and more than the number must be released back into the sea, even if it does not reach the size of the body.

And king crabs are easy to die during transportation, so they will generally choose air freight, which is bound to increase the cost of transportation, and the price will naturally go up.

How terrifying is king crab? Sweeping across Europe and invading Antarctica, every one eaten is saving the world

King crab is not easy to transport

So from this point of view, although eating king crab is saving the world, this price really makes us feel powerless.

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