Carcinus maenas (the “shore crab” or “European green crab”) is a very proficient invader (considered to be one of the world’s 100 worst invaders by the IUCN) due to its phenotypic plasticity, wide temperature and salinity tolerance, and an extensive omnivorous diet. Native to Atlantic Europe, it has established two well-studied nonindigenous populations in the northwestern Atlantic and northeastern Pacific and less-studied populations in Australia, Argentina and South Africa. Carcinus maenas has been the subject of numerous papers, with over 1000 published in the past decade. Along with a summary of the results from a 3-year long trapping study in Salem Sound, this talk will broadly review current published information on the life history and population dynamics of this very important species, including genetic differentiation, habitat preferences, sizes of crabs, sex ratios, ecosystem dynamics and ecological impacts in the various established global populations of green crabs.
James Elliott serves as Greencrab.org’s Science Communications Advisor, supporting scientific decision making and creating educational content for the group. Full time, James works at New England Biolabs as a Scientist studying novel methods for enzyme development in the biotechnology industry. James holds a Biology degree from Salem State University (SSU) and MS degree from University of Maine. An active member of the New England Estuarine Research Society and the Crustacean Society, James has previously worked closely with the Division of Marine Fisheries studying population dynamics and molt endocrinology of crustaceans during his time at the Cat Cove Marine Laboratory (Salem, MA) and the Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, MA).
Description by Maria Mitchell Association and Nantucket Land Council.
This event is a collaboration between our Shuck At Home initiative and Nantucket Green Crab Week.