A “killer” shrimp which makes meals out of young fish, insect larva, and the shrimp native to the area has been discovered at two different locations in Wales, comments the Environment Agency.
These sneaky little invaders, known in scientific circles as Dikerogammarus villosus, actually changes the ecology of the environments that it takes over, and can even cause mass die offs and extinctions.
The invader was discovered in the UK at reservoir in Cambridgeshire this past September.
Environment Agency Wales has commented that it has just confirmed the presence at Cardiff Bay and Eglwys Nunyd Reservoir in Port Talbot. It is still unknown as to how the interloper got there.
You see, this “killer” shrimp originally hails from a region between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, however it has spread over most of Western Europe across the last decade.
This sneaky invader can be as tiny as 3 millimeters, but can grow as large as 30 millimeters long, making it much bigger than the freshwater shrimp native to the area.
Biologists have dubbed this tiny invader a killer, as it mainly kills more than its fill, and leaves its meals largely uneaten.
This invader is really causing some alarm, and has led to the Welsh Assembly Government setting up an all-wales group to help and figure out how to contain problem, so that it doesn’t spread any further.
Environment Agency Wales director Chris Mills commented:
“We will continue with our monitoring work across Wales to identify any other water recreation spots where they could be to see how widespread the problem has become.”