Do you know that the crayfish we eat is not a real lobster, but a type of crayfish?
Let me tell you now, king crab is not a crab , but a crustacean of the Stone Crab family.
King Crab
My dear, I can’t tell what I’m eating these days.
We know that crayfish is one of the worst species to invade our country. Because there are quite a lot of and , the price is not too much.
But king crab is different. It is not only big, but also very expensive. At this time, people will say, is it because the quantity is small?
Well, king crabs are indeed less popular in our country than , but do you know that they are already rampant in other places? If we catch this, it won't be enough for us to eat for a while.
King crab is not something you can eat casually
But if you look at its intrusion capabilities , you may not think so.
Next let’s find out, how scary is the king crab? It not only swept Europe but also invaded Antarctica. Every time you eat one, you are saving the world.
King crabs invade Antarctica
In September 2011, Belgian scientists discovered more than million giant king crabs in a basin 850 meters away from the continental shelf offshore Antarctica.
Many people said that if they were to catch them, wouldn't they be released?
You must know that if you want to eat a king crab in China, you will have to spend a lot of money.
This huge crab army
The weight of king crabs ranges from about 5 to 10 pounds.. If you want to buy live king crabs, it is estimated to cost thousands of yuan.
You can imagine how much these more than 1 million king crabs would cost!
But this is not what scientists have in mind. In "Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B: Biological Sciences" , they stated that these king crabs may have been living there for 30-40 years..
King crabs are very aggressive animals . There are most krill and other small marine creatures in Antarctica.
With its huge body, king crab has obviously caused serious harm to the local ecology.
King crabs have already taken root in Antarctica
Even as the global temperature warms, they are likely to continue to penetrate deep into the hinterland of Antarctica, and may even climb to the Antarctic main continental shelf.
This will undoubtedly further damage the local ecology and seize food from terrestrial creatures, such as penguins and seals .
So some people say that every time you eat a king crab now, you are saving the earth.
King crab is extremely destructive
Has it really reached this level? Let’s take a look at the destructiveness of king crabs.
As we said before, the king crab is not a real crab because it lacks two legs compared with the crab.
King crabs have long legs
But this does not make them less destructive, because their size can give them a great advantage.
The wingspan of a king crab can reach 1.8 meters, which is equivalent to the height of an adult man.
Their slender legs make them very flexible when hunting on the seabed. The favorite foods of king crabs are starfish , sea urchins and other echinoderms .
Moreover, the king crab's large pincers are also extremely destructive, and many shelled animals are inevitably subjected to its "poison".
King crabs can attack and defend
Especially in Antarctica, they have no natural enemies at all. Even if they do, their thick carapace gives them enough "defense" capabilities, so if they are not controlled, it will be very difficult. It is possible to occupy all that sea area.
The invasion of king crabs
But it stands to reason that although king crabs like to live in cold waters, they basically stay in the ocean with a depth of about 850 meters. Their favorite water temperature is 2-5°C, which is the lowest temperature that can survive. Also requires 1.4℃.
But obviously the water temperature in Antarctica is significantly lower, so they should not come here.
So how did they move their families to Antarctica, and why can they still sell at high prices despite breaking the rule of "rare things are more valuable" ? This has to mention the migration journey of king crabs.
Attractive king crab
Among king crabs, the common ones are red king crab, blue king crab, golden king crab and South American king crab.
The most common one is the red king crab, which was originally distributed in the North Pacific , Bering Strait , Sea of Japan, Alaska and Kamchatka Peninsula and other places.
This part of the area is an inaccessible place, so few people would go here to catch king crabs at that time.
It is worth noting that king crabs do not get very little living environment in these places.
Kamchatka Peninsula
At this time, they mostly live in shallow sea areas, although there are enough plankton here for them to eat.
But at the same time, it is also more difficult to avoid the attacks of natural enemies , so many king crabs are already food for other animals before they grow up, so their population is not large at this time.
First stop Barents Sea
Until the 1960s, Soviet scientists conducted research on the Kamchatka Peninsula, and when they returned, they also took king crabs to the Barents Sea .
King crabs coming to the Barents Sea are like arriving in paradise, because it is also a high latitude area and is a cold water area, so it is very suitable for the growth of king crabs.
The only difference between the Barents Sea
is that the ecological chains of the two places are not the same. The Barents Sea lacks the king crab's natural enemy .
And after they first came to the Barents Sea, many industries for breeding king crabs have developed, so their early growth environment is very superior, and they no longer worry about whether they will grow up.
There is a saying that "as you grow older, your wings become stronger", and when it comes to king crabs, it means that the carapace is stronger and the legs are longer.
So when the breeders were not paying attention, they ran away into the wild, and began to flood on a large scale in the Barents Sea.
King crab in the deep sea
How strong is the reproduction and survival ability of king crabs? I can tell you responsibly that a female king crab can give birth to tens of thousands of baby crabs every year. When the baby crabs pass their second birthday, they can go to the deep sea to take charge of their own business.
By 2016, the number of king crabs in the Barents Sea has exceeded 50 million.
And Norway , which is close to the Barents Sea, has also made a fortune from these king crabs.
continues to expand its territory
But the king crab is not satisfied with the status quo and continues to expand.
King Crab: If you don’t run, you will only be eaten.
The Barents Sea is one of the continental seas belonging to the Arctic Ocean . They began to invade Svalbard , followed by the United Kingdom, and then Later, Europe was "occupied" by .
Wherever the "King Crab" goes, it is basically in colder areas, so more powerful predatory marine creatures are rare here.
So if there is no human fishing, then these areas will become "ocean deserts" like the Barents Sea.
Some people say that these invading king crabs are not here to give money to Europeans. After all, king crabs are so valuable now.
There is indeed nothing wrong with saying this, but once these king crabs become rampant, they will affect the entire fishery , and the gains may outweigh the losses.
Svalbard Islands
Faced with such a large number of king crab families, we still have an unresolved problem, which is why it is still so expensive?
King crabs are not easy to catch.
You may have forgotten which sea area these overflowing king crabs are in. Whether it is the Arctic Ocean or Antarctica, which is now in Antarctica, it is not an easy place to fish.
There is no way to fish all year round in these areas. can only go to sea for two months , but this does not mean that the sea will be calm at this time.
The Arctic Ocean is very scary
As soon as you go out to sea, the strong winds and waves make it difficult for people to stand on the deck, so in many cases, a king crab catch will only last about 5 days, and it will be caught within these few days. quantity per year.
Therefore, fishing for king crabs can be said to be a very high-risk occupation. According to statistics, 356 people will lose their lives for every 100,000 people, so there are not many professional crabbers.
And everyone who goes out to sea to catch king crabs needs a license. Even in Norway, only more than 200 people can go out to sea , so even though there are so many king crabs, the number we catch is limited.
The fishing scene is terrible
Speaking of this limitation, Russia and Norway have also signed restrictions before. Each year, the number of king crabs is stipulated. Those that exceed the number must be returned to the sea, and even those that have not reached the size of will be released. .
Moreover, king crabs are easy to die during transportation, so is usually chosen to ship by air. This will inevitably increase the transportation cost, and the price will naturally increase.
King crab is not easy to transport
So from this point of view, although eating king crab is saving the world, the price really makes us powerless.
