First traps for Chinese mitten crabs installed as they keep eating the locals

The first ever traps for Chinese mitten crabs have been installed in the UK as the invasive species has been wreaking havoc in our ecosystem.

The crabs are one of the UK’s worst invasive species, with one expert saying they’re eating our native wildlife ‘out of house and home’.

Now, conservationists have installed the first ever Chinese mitten crab trap in a small village in Lincolnshire.

They chose the village of Pode Hole because several drainage channels join there and the area is reported to have a particular problem with the crabs, named for their furry claws.

It’s hoped they will be able to catch the crabs as they migrate downstream to mate, Sky News reports.

The Natural History Museum (NHM) says mitten crabs are thought to have arrived in Europe from eastern China in sediment on the bottom of ships’ ballast tanks, either as larvae or small crabs.

Paul Clark, from the museum, says the first UK mitten crab was recorded at Lotts Road Power Station, which used to generate electricity for the London Underground.

Dr Clark said: ‘Between 1985 and 1990 the population suddenly exploded.

‘It has spread rapidly since I first picked up this crab in 1976 – I never knew this was going to be the start of a long-term love affair.

‘There are millions – I don’t know how many there are – but they are eating us out of house and home.

‘Our native food is being depleted, and our biodiversity is going down.’

There are now thought to be millions of the crabs living in the Thames and surrounding waterways – unsurprising as females can carry anywhere between 500,000 and one million eggs at one time.

They can grow to the size of a 10-inch dinner plate, damage fishing gear, and eat native species including salmon and trout eggs – species which are already under threat in the wild.

Conservationists hope to deep freeze the crabs they catch before dissecting them, to study the contents of their digestive system and see what they have been eating using DNA.

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