Invasive animal species. Phytoinvasions: danger and ecological consequences. Reasons for the invasiveness of exotic species
There is one interesting story. She talks about the fact that once the Earth was part of paradise, and was considered its most beautiful corner. But this was only until the moment when people appeared on it. There were more and more of them, and they gradually occupied the best places, exploited them mercilessly, and then left there, leaving behind mountains of garbage and defiled space that never again looked like paradise.
All attempts to call to the mind or to the soul ended in failure, and, probably, that is why the Lord, trying to save the Earth from the filth created by the ungrateful human race, arranged a worldwide flood. But, alas, this lesson did not teach people anything. And so far, wherever there are people, “sick” places, contaminated with waste, instantly appear.
In addition to waste, there is another problem - the appearance of invasive animals, plants and viruses. And this is also the fault of man. This process is always started by people, and from the best of intentions, with which, as you know, the road to hell is paved. It is this hell that becomes the place where a person of a close mind begins his economic activity. The most famous case is rabbits, once brought by colonists to Australia. In 1859, farmer Thomas Austin released only 24 rabbits into the wild. What for? From savings, of course. I decided that when the rabbits were free, they would feed themselves, and there would be no need to clean their cages.
Everyone knows the result: by the end of the 19th century, there was no grass and many shrubs left on the territory “mastered” by rabbits. As a result, hundreds of plant species and many animals died out and disappeared forever. But millions of rabbits jumped everywhere, eating up the remnants of vegetation and continuing to multiply rapidly. Farmers grabbed their heads and weapons, but this could not radically change the situation. Catastrophe! I had to shoot them, poison them - destroy them by all available means in order to somehow regulate their numbers.
And there are hundreds of thousands of such examples. The entire south of the United States is overgrown and continues to overgrow with one of the varieties of vines - kudzu. The leaves of the pueraria lobata resemble wild grapes and are very adorn the landscape design. And for this reason, they began to plant it in city parks and squares, decorate them with gazebos and arches in personal plots. And no one, not a single person bothered to read at least an article in a biology textbook about the features of this plant that reproduce incredibly quickly.
But in vain! Kudzu is an excellent opportunist and knows how to choose a support for himself. A tree, a pole, a house, a barn, a bridge or a fence - everything suits him. Gently and imperceptibly, the kudzu embraces the tree and begins to wrap coil after coil around its trunk. Imperceptibly tenderness disappears, and embraces become deadly. The tree dies, and the gentle killer, having climbed to a height of 30 meters, - and this is just in a year! - begins to look for a new victim.
The lack of high support does not bother kudzu at all. The plant simply crawls along the ground, leaving not a single square meter of empty space behind it. And this is only one individual, but there are hundreds of thousands of them! A year later, people simply did not recognize their gardens, kitchen gardens and houses. It is useless to cut down - the roots are very tenacious and grow again. Tried to burn - the same result. This is how the south of the United States was captured by an ordinary liana, which did not spare not only bushes, grass, destroyed all the trees, swallowed up individual ranches first, and then small towns, literally squeezed out all the farmers from these places.
Why is the USA there, and the same thing is happening next to us! There is a variety of starlings - lanes. In the people they are usually called Afghan starlings. They belong to migratory birds, but once they stayed for the winter in the cities of Uzbekistan, they decided not to fly away. Why work, flap your wings, get tired and generally strain? In a big city, and a small one too, there is a lot of food, there is enough heat in the country, and there is a minimum of natural enemies. Perfect place!
As a result, sparrows disappeared in Tashkent, because mynas are strong birds, and a sparrow cannot cope with them. Now the sparrow, an ordinary brown bird, flies only in the fields and villages, even in the suburbs it is a rarity. His way to the big cities is barred - the lanes will be pecked to death. They act cruelly and harmoniously, for a start they destroy nests, throw away eggs, and they do not spare the chicks either. Then flocks attack everyone who dares to fly into "their" territory. Recalcitrant daredevils, if any, are killed, and the rest surrender and retreat, saving their lives.
Pigeons and common turtledoves also prefer not to mess with lanes. The invaders behave impudently with them and are not shy in their methods. And with the gray crows, the lanes keep neutrality: you should not mess with them - they are very smart, strong and also know how to act collectively. So noisy flocks of impudent minnows and crows fly around the city, and in order to see the rest of the birds, you need to go away from the city.
In the 90s, rapana was brought to the Black Sea from the Far East. As they say, they were not going to release them into the water. The actions were committed spontaneously and unintentionally. And today there are no more Black Sea mussels and oysters in the Black Sea. Again nonsense? I don’t want to think that these were deliberate actions aimed at destruction, although this fact is no longer important for the deceased mussels.
One more fact. At the end of the 20th century, it was decided to specially grow cow parsnip - it is supposedly great for livestock feed. They reasoned like this. There are no worries with him - the weed does not require either watering or care, it grows, as they say, on its own. There are many vitamins in it, and silage, if hogweed is added to it, becomes much more nutritious. Conclusion: we sow weed wherever possible, up to the roadsides. Then we mow, store in silos. And it will cost a penny, and almost for nothing we will get excellent fodder for livestock for the winter.
The new vitamin supplement to the silage immediately showed its vile character. To begin with, it expanded throughout the territory, displacing almost all the natives. Then people and animals began to suffer from hogweed burns. Again, good intentions have turned into a problem for which no solution has yet been found. We drive just a few kilometers from Moscow and see fields completely overgrown with this innocent-looking and very pretty plant. And God forbid you pick hogweed to decorate a bouquet of wild flowers with it! The burn is stronger than from nettles, and it heals for two weeks, and sometimes longer.
Rats better than all animals adapt not only to new living conditions, but in general to any. They are able to live among bare stones and find food for themselves there. Scientists have calculated that more than 90% of the islands of the oceans are inhabited only by rats. They once hit them from ships that moored for a while or sunk off the coast. Just nothing - three or five individuals on one island, but this is enough so that very soon, apart from them, no one lived on the territory occupied by rats. Devouring everything that can be found, multiplying at an unprecedented rate, in a few years the rats turn from guests into sole owners. And this happens wherever at least a couple of rats get.
During the Cultural Revolution in China, they declared war on sparrows. Some smart people have calculated the damage caused by flocks of birds to the rice crop. It turned out that as much as 4.7%! They shot this bird mercilessly, reported with satisfaction about the millions of sparrows killed and took pictures against the backdrop of trucks filled to the brim with the corpses of "criminal thieves". The very next year, the rice fields were occupied by pests of all stripes, and rice losses amounted to 85%. I had to buy sparrows in neighboring countries, import them to China and create all the conditions for them to live well in new places. From the outside it looks like ordinary human stupidity. And it can be qualified as a deliberate infliction of enormous damage to the country and people.
There is a list of invasive species that pose a serious danger to the environment. It contains 2 viruses, one species of protozoa, 38 plants, 57 animals, and three species of chromists and fungi each. In this list you can find seemingly innocent creatures. They do not tolerate anyone on their territory and are aggressive towards their neighbors common carps and whiteflies, aphids and red deer, wild rabbits and euphorbia. All familiar faces! But this is at first glance, but if you look closely, it becomes clear that their ideal ability to survive is a terrible evil for the environment.
The appearance of invasive animals in any region is a real biological terrorism, a real threat to the biological diversity of nature. It is difficult to fight this phenomenon, sometimes it is already too late. It is much easier to avoid such distortions. But people are people, and sometimes it is simply impossible to break through to their consciousness.
The most dangerous animals that can instantly adapt to new living conditions. They have either already destroyed or are now engaged in the destruction of other animals. Some species of animals are engaged in the creation of supercolonies on a planetary scale, while others destroy all zooplankton and animals at an incredible rate.
Source: www.hormigas.org
Argentine ants originally lived only in South America, but now their colonies exist in Southern Europe, the USA, and also in Asia. In Europe, the largest colony of Argentine ants stretches for 6 thousand km, stretching along the entire Mediterranean coast of Spain, France, Monaco and Italy. The ant colony in the USA (California) has already grown to 900 km. The third colony of Argentine ants is located on the west coast of Japan. All three Argentine ant colonies were found to be tolerant of each other, ie. form a huge supercolony on a planetary scale.
The homeland of the giant Achatina is the coastal part of East Africa. During the Second World War, this mollusk spread throughout Oceania, the Caribbean, and America. The expansion of the range of Achatina was stopped due to the introduced quarantine. The incipient invasion of the snail in the United States was prevented. Achatina giant is a dangerous species, since Achatina are hermaphrodites, that is, each individual has male and female genital organs. At a low population density, self-fertilization is possible. The snail has learned to master all kinds of biotopes: coastal lowlands, river valleys, forests, shrubs, as well as fields and arable lands. Achatina giant is recognized as an extremely dangerous agricultural pest.
Source: upload.wikimedia.org
The American signal crayfish originally lived in North America. In the 20th century, it spread in Europe, because it is not only resistant to crayfish plague, but is itself its distributor. Endemics are not able to compete with the American signal cancer. Currently found in Europe (on the territory of 25 countries), as well as in Russia.
Source: upload.wikimedia.org
The deer is included in the list of the most dangerous invasive species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The red deer is most dangerous in South America, where the rare South Andean deer competes with it for food. In Argentina, red deer have spread to many national parks. In some regions, the red deer does not allow the populations of local plant species, which are especially actively used for food, to recover, thus affecting plant diversity.
Source: upload.wikimedia.org
The venous rapana is a predator that could initially be found only in the Peter the Great Bay, as well as off the coast of Japan, but in 1947 the rapana was accidentally brought into the Black Sea. Due to the absence of natural enemies in the sea, the mollusk population instantly grew and caused great damage to the fauna of the Black Sea. In the future, due to intensive maritime transport, the area of \u200b\u200bthe rapana increased: now it inhabited the entire Mediterranean Sea, as well as the North Sea. There is evidence that the rapana has already entered the waters of South America.
Source: upload.wikimedia.org
India is considered the birthplace of the tobacco whitefly. Whiteflies are dangerous because their larvae suck plant juices and transmit phytopathogenic viruses. A particularly dangerous insect for melons, vegetables and industrial crops. Berry, citrus and forest tree plantations are also affected. Whiteflies have settled on all continents (except Antarctica).
Source: c1.staticflickr.com
Yellow crazy ants originally lived only in West Africa. Now colonies of these ants are found in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Oceania. Destroyed a unique ecosystem on Christmas Island. Yellow crazy ants are capable of creating supercolonies (i.e. they do not compete with each other). Use human transport to capture new territories. Destroy other insects, arachnids, molluscs. Their diet also includes grains and seeds.
13.11.2017 20:32
The most dangerous animals that can instantly adapt to new living conditions. They have either already destroyed or are now engaged in the destruction of other animals. Some species of animals are engaged in the creation of supercolonies on a planetary scale, while others destroy all zooplankton and animals at an incredible rate.
Argentine ant
Argentine ants originally lived only in South America, but now their colonies exist in Southern Europe, the USA, and also in Asia. In Europe, the largest colony of Argentine ants stretches for 6 thousand km, stretching along the entire Mediterranean coast of Spain, France, Monaco and Italy. The ant colony in the USA (California) has already grown to 900 km. The third colony of Argentine ants is located on the west coast of Japan. All three Argentine ant colonies were found to be tolerant of each other, ie. form a huge supercolony on a planetary scale.
Achatina giant
The homeland of the giant Achatina is the coastal part of East Africa. During the Second World War, this mollusk spread throughout Oceania, the Caribbean, and America. The expansion of the range of Achatina was stopped due to the introduced quarantine. The incipient invasion of the snail in the United States was prevented. Achatina giant is a dangerous species, since Achatina are hermaphrodites, that is, each individual has male and female genital organs. At a low population density, self-fertilization is possible. The snail has learned to master all kinds of biotopes: coastal lowlands, river valleys, forests, bushes, as well as fields and arable land. Achatina giant is recognized as an extremely dangerous agricultural pest.
American signal cancer
The American signal crayfish originally lived in North America. In the 20th century, it spread in Europe, because it is not only resistant to crayfish plague, but is itself its distributor. Endemics are not able to compete with the American signal cancer. Currently found in Europe (on the territory of 25 countries), as well as in Russia.
Noble deer
The deer is included in the list of the most dangerous invasive species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The red deer is most dangerous in South America, where the rare South Andean deer competes with it for food. In Argentina, red deer have spread to many national parks. In some regions, the red deer does not allow the populations of local plant species, which are especially actively used for food, to recover, thus affecting plant diversity.
Venous rapana
The venous rapana is a predator that could initially be found only in the Peter the Great Bay, as well as off the coast of Japan, but in 1947 the rapana was accidentally brought into the Black Sea. Due to the absence of natural enemies in the sea, the mollusk population instantly grew and caused great damage to the fauna of the Black Sea. In the future, due to intensive maritime transport, the area of \u200b\u200bthe rapana increased: now it inhabited the entire Mediterranean Sea, as well as the North Sea. There is evidence that the rapana has already entered the waters of South America.
In nature, there are many species of animals that pose a danger to others, feed on them or act as dominants. This is not as scary as it seems at first glance - usually everything in nature is balanced in such a way that all species, despite the death of individual individuals, survive. However, the unimpeded invasion of predators into the habitat where they should not be leads to catastrophic consequences - species and entire ecosystems disappear, and sometimes even human dwellings turn out to be insufficient protection.
1. Starfish Looking like an alien invader, the starfish is a nightmare with skin covered in sharp needles. Usually starfish are up to 33 cm in diameter and have five rays protruding from the body, which are covered with razor-sharp spines that protect them from most predators. The stars themselves feed on coral polyps.
Starfish have become a problem in their native ecosystem due to environmental changes. Thanks to their insatiable appetite and rapid breeding rate, each star in the "herd" can consume up to six m2 of coral reefs per year, destroying massive patches.
Scientists believe that the too rapid increase in the number of starfish is caused by human-induced changes in the ocean ecosystem, primarily associated with an increased content of nutrient pollution. As a result, programs have been implemented in some areas to destroy starfish using lethal toxins.
2. European starling
Starlings were brought to North America by nostalgic settlers, apparently under the influence of Shakespeare, who in one of his plays described the hero Eugene Scheffelin, a self-proclaimed messiah who called on everyone who left their homeland to lead a bird to a foreign land. 60 starlings were indeed delivered to America in this way, though much later, and released into the wild in Manhattan's Central Park.
Starlings quickly spread across the continent from Central America to Alaska: they invaded cities and fields, destroyed crops, and partially or completely exterminated many native birds, including woodpeckers, tits and swallows.
Flocks of starlings threaten planes - once 62 people died due to the fact that a starling was sucked into the engine of an airliner. Despite large-scale control programs, the number of European starlings in North America is currently about 150 million individuals.
3 Giant Canada Goose
Although Canada does not have a bird that serves as a symbol of the country, the vast majority of wildlife enthusiasts would attribute this role to the Canada goose, since there are more birds of this species in Canada than any other. However, Canada is a large enough country to have room for several goose subspecies with different habitats and lifestyles.
Canada goose are responsible for the gradual destruction of the coastline along the mouth of the Gulf of Georgia. This area is of great importance as it is a stopover for many species of migratory birds, and it is also the main habitat for salmon, an endangered game fish.
Wildlife researcher Neil C. Doe has conducted field studies on the state of the mouth of the bay and published results showing that geese destroy the natural habitat of many animals and cause disturbances in the food chain.
4. Dark tiger python
The majority of invasive species are small animals, however, dark tiger pythons are huge and potentially deadly giants. They first appeared in the Everglades National Park (Florida), the world famous marsh region. This monster, brought to America by conquistadors, is one of the largest snakes on the planet, it grows up to five meters in length and weighs about 90 kg.
Now the number of snakes in the Everglades reaches several thousand individuals, and this is more than in their original habitat in South Asia. Giant pythons, with their powerful jaws and sharp teeth, threaten to destroy the ecosystem of the wetland region as they quickly decimate native species, including the normally invulnerable American alligators.
State conservation authorities consider the destruction of snakes in this region one of the priorities, but to date, all measures taken have been ineffective.
5. Yeah (cane toad)
Yep, or the cane toad, is living proof that introducing a second invasive species to control the numbers of one already existing invader can lead to even worse disasters. A huge toxic amphibian (some individuals can weigh about two kg and grow up to 23 cm in length) originally from Central and South America was brought to the islands to reduce the number of beetles devouring sugar cane plantations.
Instead, in order to exterminate the beetles and calm down on this, the Aghas bred over a vast territory, bringing the local fauna into decline. They hunt, among other things, predatory lizards, marsupial mammals and songbirds, and even ruin the egg laying of man-eating sea crocodiles.
As with other invasive species, the number of cane toads remains artificially high in the new environment due to the lack of predators that can feed on them and are resistant to toxins.
The proposal to reduce the population of toads with the help of viruses raised concerns - in the future, such a measure could cause a chain reaction and cause irreparable damage to the local fauna. By a strange coincidence, the natural toad toxin is currently being used to kill tadpoles.
6. Brown boyga
If a predatory invasive species ends up on an island, then the native species usually lack the ability to cope with a threat that they have never encountered before. Coupled with the absence of predators higher up in the food chain, this could lead to the extinction of native species.
When brown boygies arrived on Guam after World War II, probably as stowaways in the cargo holds of ships, they caused the biggest environmental disaster ever caused by introductions.
Poisonous snakes have destroyed most of the vertebrates native to the forests of the island, they also bite people, and their bites are very painful. In addition, the Boigis have caused frequent power outages as they have invaded human settlements.
In safe conditions, boigas grow up to three meters in length due to an unnaturally large amount of food. To control the number of reptiles, the introduction of toxins into dead mice, which snakes love to eat, is used.
7. Plague rats and mice
On ships, not only people cross the oceans, but also their mortal enemies - rats and mice. Sometimes disease-carrying, rodents become a death sentence for the entire population of seabirds when they land with people on shore: they eat eggs, young and sometimes even adult petrels, puffins and other wetland birds that are not able to protect their nests from land-based predators. .
The presence of invasive rats contributes to the global extinction of seabirds: for example, rats exterminate up to 25,000 petrel chicks per year. No less dangerous are invasive house mice that harm species that are already endangered, for example, Tristan albatrosses: mice not only ruin their clutches, but also eat chicks alive.
8. Domestic cat
Cats are considered man's second best friends, but they also have a reputation as the most dangerous invasive predators, as they intensively destroy the local fauna when they find themselves in a foreign environment. Through direct and indirect human assistance, stray cats have killed millions of continental songbirds, ill-equipped to fend off stealth attacks from a growing number of predators.
The presence of cats on the islands has catastrophic consequences: an unprecedented case is known when the cat of one person caused the complete extinction of one of the bird species in New Zealand - the Stefanov bush wren.
On many islands and continents, invasive cats have reduced bird and small mammal populations. However, there is a downside: some scientists believe that cats can help humans control populations of small predators such as rats.
9 Crab Eating Macaque
Most often, ecologists call humans the main invasive species on the planet, but we rarely imagine monkeys in this role. However, crab-eating macaques are included in the list of the 100 most dangerous invasive species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Crab-eating macaques are carnivorous primates that have invaded a number of islands in an unnatural habitat for them thanks to human assistance.
Like many terrestrial predators, crabeater macaques, which also have the rudiments of intelligence, threaten the reproduction of tropical birds and, according to some experts, may be responsible for the rapid extinction of already endangered species.
Macaques can also pose a danger to humans because they carry a deadly strain of the herpes virus that has symptoms similar to herpes simplex, but without proper treatment can lead to brain damage and death.
10. Cow corpse
The invasion of invasive species can prevent people from efficiently using land resources and provide additional conditions for other species, native, to prey on their prey, or, in the case of cow corpses, to parasitize other people's nests.
Initially, cow trupials lived on the plains of North America, where they coexisted with buffaloes and fed on insects climbing around these large herbivorous insects. However, the increase in the number of buffaloes began to prevent the birds from building nests and raising offspring - then the cow corpses began to throw their eggs into the nests of other birds, which is why their own chicks of these species cannot develop normally.
In addition, the reduction of forest areas in some habitats of trupials led to their spread to thousands of km2 of forests, where they caused a decrease in the number of forest songbirds, whose own chicks were doomed to starvation.
However, conservationists sometimes call cow corpses a natural invasive species, since their homeland was the same territories where they live now, no one brought them there. However, cow corpses have managed to reduce even the rare Kirtland treeworts.
Incredible Facts
We have already written on the pages of our site about the harm that the so-called invasive species animals and plants - that is, animals and plants that did not originally live in a certain ecosystem, but were brought there by people, or got there by accident (through a hurricane, flood, and so on). And this is not surprising - after all, getting into a completely different system, many of these species inflict irreparable harm, threatening other species and disturbing the precarious balance that existed in a particular region due to its isolation from other ecosystems.
So who are they, these troublemakers and "killers" of ecosystems and how to deal with them?! As experience shows, it is sometimes simply useless to deal with such species. However, the fight against the fight is different, according to scientists dealing with the problem of invasive species, and advise us ... to eat them! Researchers are confident that this is the only way to save ecosystems suffering from the invasion of "aggressive" species. Let's look at the five most accessible animal and plant species, which researchers strongly recommend that we eat as quickly and as much as possible in order to restore balance in nature.
Bullfrog
No, a bullfrog (or as it is also called - frog-ox) is called that way not at all because its meat tastes like beef. And it's not even the size of this amphibian, which is one of the largest species in the frog family. There are individual specimens weighing up to 600 grams! It's all about the peculiar sound made by males during the courtship period, which resembles lowing. In appearance, this frog looks very unappetizing and even repulsive - all because of the large size of its eardrum, which is not inferior in size to the eye.
The bullfrog has a unique ability to adapt. This species originally lived east of the Rocky Mountains in western Canada and the United States. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when such a native French dish as frog legs was tasted in America, the bullfrog began to be bred west of the Rocky Mountains. There, this amphibian began to multiply in large numbers, and he managed to survive even paw eating fashion, which was due to the fact that this dish was considered dietary. These frogs ate everything that they met on the way and fit in size. Because of this, other types of amphibians, such as, for example, red-footed frog have been threatened with extinction. Undoubtedly, the bullfrog, having taken root and bred outside the area of \u200b\u200bits original habitat, endangered biodiversity of other ecosystems. Thus, scientists see the only way to restore balance in eating these amphibians.
Turnip
What could be simpler ... no, not steamed, but just turnips? However, the turnip is not as simple as it seems! This type of plant is characterized by a high degree of survival. The turnip has been known and popular in northern Europe since 2000 years ago. Actually, this view comes from there, apparently. About 1500 years ago, the turnip appeared in India. The great popularity of this plant is due to the fact that turnips were not only food for people, but also feed for livestock. This fact promised great economic benefits to those who first began to import turnips to other regions and led to the uncontrolled spread of this species there.
Even though the turnip contains a lot of water, it is very nutritious and boasts a high content of a substance such as carotene, which is known to be an important element in the human diet. In our country, turnips are extremely popular, and even became the heroine of a well-known folk tale. Scientists are sure that people in those regions where it is not customary to eat turnips so widely, and where it is considered an invasive species, have only one way out - start actively eating turnips!
american jellyfish
The American jellyfish is a very voracious creature, which is also able to move very quickly, which gives it the ability to explore large water areas in a very short time. It is because of this species that the production of black caviar in the southern part of the Caspian Sea is on the verge of collapse, as sturgeon fish species are endangered. Millions of these jellyfish appear annually in spring and autumn off the coast of Georgia, USA. Nets of fishing trawlers during these periods literally stuffed with these animals, which seriously hinders fishing in this region. These jellyfish cause great inconvenience to numerous swimmers, and just vacationers on the beaches (fortunately, these animals are not poisonous, and they don’t sting in principle). However, all these reasons are more than enough to seriously think about how to begin to cope with this invasion.
How? Of course, by eating jellyfish, scientists assure! What is there, you may ask, looking at the photo? Do not rush to conclusions. An adult American jellyfish is able to reach twenty centimeters in diameter. In addition, the American jellyfish is considered delicacy, which, nevertheless, has been present on the tables in many Asian countries for thousands of years. On top of that, these jellyfish are of great medical value. Recent studies show that the protein mass of these jellyfish is collagen by as much as 80 percent! Collagen is the basis of the connective tissue of the body and provides its strength and elasticity. This cellular material can be used to restore cartilage, bones and even teeth. Collagen is also able to control the development of arthritis. As you can see, there is no reason not to eat the American jellyfish!
lion fish
Lionfish, striped lionfish, zebra fish, zebra lionfish. This fish has many names, so you can rightfully start a real criminal case against it, especially since there is something for it! The lionfish originally comes from indo-pacific region. However, she managed to penetrate into the Caribbean Sea and thoroughly settle there. Such an invasion is explained by hurricanes and some other natural phenomena that forced the lion fish to "reconsider" their habitats. Now it can be found along the entire east coast, from Rhode Island in the north of America to Columbia in the south. Protected by poisonous spines, the lionfish is essentially a voracious and very dangerous predator for many species. Lion fish do not hunt alone. They are actually corner their prey, forming a kind of barrier with the help of their pectoral fins. A lion fish is able to quickly attack and swallow its prey literally whole (if it suits its size, of course!).
Lionfish have virtually no natural enemies in nature.. Thanks to this fact, this fish quickly multiplied and began to threaten the biological system of the coral reef in the Caribbean. She put endangered most of the native species living in the reef area. Moreover, both the predatory inhabitants of the reefs, which simply did not have enough food due to competition, and non-predators came under attack. The natural enemy of the lionfish in that region could be sea bass, however, its population has greatly decreased due to the intensive catching of perch by fishermen. Thus, man unwittingly helped the invasion of an "aggressive" species that endangered entire coral reef ecosystem in the Caribbean. The only way to save the inhabitants of the reef is to start eating lion fish intensively, especially since its meat is tasty. It remains only to figure out how to catch this particular species from the whole variety of species of the Red Sea.
Crayfish
Crayfish, due to its ability to gradually take control of the entire range of its habitat, also fell into the category of animals that must be eaten. as much and as often as possible. Solely in order to save the ecosystem, of course, and not because boiled crayfish meat goes well with beer! In the case of crayfish, of course, scientists do not need to prove and explain anything, since this creature is eaten almost all over the world. Moreover, at some times people ate crayfish so intensively that, coupled with gradually polluted water bodies, this species itself was endangered in some places. However, while there are a lot of crayfish and enough for everyone!
As with other edible crustaceans, not all parts of the body of a cancer can be eaten. Basically, in many dishes such as crayfish soup, for example, only the tail part of the crayfish is used. In other dishes, despite the fact that the crayfish is served whole (for example, crayfish gratini) also eat only some parts of his body. Of course, crayfish claws are also eaten, inside of which there is very tasty and tender meat. For this, however, it makes sense to choose only sufficiently large individuals. In many countries it is accepted suck out the contents of the cancer's head, especially if it was cooked with special seasonings. Gourmets like to suck on the head of cancer, periodically bite off its tail. Remarkably, other crustaceans are often also highly successful invasive species, which means, according to scientists, you should boldly replenish your home cookbook with new recipes. Bon appetit!