Giant super crabs coming to oceans near you

Giant crabs menacing the populations of ocean view towns are the things of B-movies and bad television, but pollution from burning fossil fuels is leading to “super-sized” predatory crabs. While these large crabs won’t be carting off any damsels in distress, they could have an impact on sea ecosystems and your dinner plate.

When people burn fossil fuels such as coal and oil, they emit carbon through carbon dioxide. These particles end up being absorbed by the ocean, which helps reduce global warming, but it increasing levels of carbolic acid. A crab’s outer skeleton leeches out this carbon and uses it to create a bigger and better shell.

This isn't good news for crab fishermen or restaurants. So much energy is being put into creating a bigger and harder exoskeleton that there is actually less meat. Scientists have shown that crabs grew four times faster in area of high carbon concentration. They also saw similar traits with lobsters and shrimp.

So what are these crabs on carbon steroids doing? They’re upping their predator game. By becoming the John Cena of the underwater world, they’re hitting the oyster populations hard. Oyster population are already in decline thanks to over harvesting and habitat destruction and those poor shell fish can add killer crabs to their worry list.

As the acidification continues, this is only going to get worse and scientists fear what the long term impact could be. The super crabs have less meat, are harder to catch and went up a couple notches on the food chain. Crab populations have increased over the last few years thanks to restoration efforts, but boney meatless crabs don’t sound too appetizing.

Acidification impacts more than crustacean size. It’s destroying coral reefs and hurting other sea species that are sensitive to the acidification. Crabs and lobsters are adapting to the new polluted oceans, but the long term implications of acidifications still aren't known.

Photo courtesy of Robot Rumpus Blog