Invasive shrimp found in West Midlands

[Steve Williams]

Invasive shrimp found in West Midlands

The shrimp, Dikerogammarus haemobaphes, which is a relative of the ‘killer shrimp’, has been found on the River Severn at Tewkesbury and Bevere near Worcester.

It has also been found on two canals in Worcestershire. This is the first time this non-native shrimp, which has been shown to be invasive on mainland Europe, has been found in this country.
While this new invasive shrimp species is related to the ‘killer shrimp’, we are uncertain at this stage what its impact might be. Until we have better information we will, as a precaution, treat it as a high impact species. An immediate assessment of the risks of this shrimp has been commissioned.....

To read more... Environment Agency - Invasive shrimp found in West Midlands

 

[David Gauntlett]

Damn...another example of this government failing to uphold it's promise to control immigration

Sorry, shouldn't joke, this could possibly turn out to be serious...another alien species to impact on our already threatened riverine flora and fauna I can only assume the apparent acceleration of occurrences of such alien species is to do with global warming. The question is...why? As far as I can tell, there seem to be massive swings in our weather now, with little respite between bouts of flood or drought, but very little evidence of raised temperatures...if anything, the reverse. Very odd indeedy

Cheers, Dave.

 

[Mark Gaskell]

sorry but had too!

theres another invasive shrimp in the wigan area as well,not sure on the latin term though no doubt some one will help!

 

[Ray Ellis]

And yet another
Enormous fish-eating raft spider reintroduced to British countryside - AOL Travel UK

 

[Neil Smart]

theres another invasive shrimp in the wigan area as well,not sure on the latin term though no doubt some one will help!

Raymondo Watlonica?

 

[David Hall]

And yet another
Enormous fish-eating raft spider reintroduced to British countryside - AOL Travel UK

a nice meal for a hungry trout or chub.

 

[Neil Blood]

theres another invasive shrimp in the wigan area as well,not sure on the latin term though no doubt some one will help!

Meatous Pieus Shrimpous?

 

[Graham Billingham]

Matchmen use kilo's of bloodworm and jokers and i'ts full of all sorts of life and a lot of it comes in from eastern europe.Don't know how they get away with bringing it in the country but it's been going on a long time.

 

[Peter Littleworth]

Interesting observation ,Graham, wonder if the EA are aware of that? They should be, would, on the face of it, would be a feasable entry route, far more likely than boat bilges, they may well spread them, but not many would enter the Severn from europe!
The fact that the whole river, canal network is linked (or very nearly?) throughout the country might offer some real concerns for our native, and struggling bug/fish life!!!!?
peter

 

[Graham Billingham]

The've got scientists looking at where thev'e come from but matchmen i know when they heard about the shrimps the first words out their mouths were bloodworm & jokers.

 

[Andrew Boyne]

Damn...another example of this government failing to uphold it's promise to control immigration

Cheers, Dave.

Probably claiming political asylum Dave, after all, being known relatives of 'the killer shrimp' they'll be persecuted if we send them back.

theres another invasive shrimp in the wigan area as well,not sure on the latin term though no doubt some one will help!

Meatous Pieus Shrimpous?

Gazzarus Waglex!

On a serious note - they probably did get here in the match packs, but what about the aquatics trade which also sell live bloodworm amongst other live invertebrates for feeding fish, they will also sell to the general public plants, crustaceans and fish which all appear on the invassive species list. There was a garden centre near me that was selling Channel Catfish a couple of years ago - a big garden centre and they had hundreds if not thousands of 3-4" Channel Cats at £3 each or 5 for £10. No doubt a number of those will already have 'outgrown' their captive habitats and been released into our waterways. They also sell a catfish in the tropical section which can grow to several hundred pounds without warning the buyer they may, in the near future, need a bigger tank.

 

[David Hall]

ship them off to the US like hookman.

 

[Mark de Lancey]

Meatous Pieus Shrimpous?

With daddy's brown sauce, mmmm!