Invasive crab crawls slowly toward Maine

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=121590&ac=PHnws

Mainers are being asked to keep an eye out for a strange crab that has furry claws and can live in both fresh and salt water.

The Chinese mitten crab appears to be spreading up the East Coast, and so is its reputation for displacing native animals, fouling fishing nets and destabilizing riverbanks.

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The crab is named for the fur on its pincer claws. It spends much of its life in freshwater rivers, returning to coastal estuaries to spawn. It's regarded as an aggressive invasive species because it can take over habitats in estuaries and rivers, clog commercial fishing nets and water intake pipes and accelerate erosion by burrowing into shorelines and embankments.

The crab has slowly made its way from Asia to Europe to the United States, first causing problems on the West Coast and only recently appearing on the East Coast.

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[soothsayer]

1. are they good eats?

[kestrel91316]

3. They are SO tasty, the Chinese have just about driven them

extinct in their native territory. We need to have a commercial market in them and they won't have a chance to take over anything.

[One_Life_To_Give]

4. Limit the take on Lobster, but Unlimited Mitten Crab Licences?

If the commercial fish piers would purchase them. I would think many a tired fisherman would love to try something that wasn't already in decline and becoming rare in these waters.

[youngdem]

2. After Anna Nicole's death, it is reported huge herds have been in search of a new host

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