Antarctic Crabs May Be Native, Evidence Suggests

[Staff]

Antarctic Crabs May Be Native, Evidence Suggests
July 4, 2013
Science Daily

Antarctic crabs may be native, evidence suggests
excerpt from above:

A new study has cast doubt on the claim that crabs may have disappeared from Antarctica only to return due to warming seas.

The theory surfaced two years ago following the discovery of a major colony of King crabs (Lithodidae) in the Palmer Deep, a basin in the continental shelf off the Antarctic Peninsula. It was thought the species may have left the continent between 40 and 15 million years ago and was returning as seawater temperatures rose. Fears were expressed that its reintroduction would decimate other fauna in the region. But an extensive study of all known crab records by a team of scientists at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has led it to conclude the crabs may have been there all along rather than moving in from a different area.

Writing in the online journal PLOS ONE the team...