It's no surprise that Connecticut's shoreline is an ecosystem rich with sea life. The waters off Connecticut are teeming with all kinds of fish, crabs, lobsters, clams and oysters.
Shrimp are also native to Connecticut waters, but a recent discovery has scientists scratching their heads.
A species of shrimp, 3 inches long, has begun turning up in the Mystic River in Mystic. It doesn't seem out of the ordinary until you realize the species is the Oriental Shrimp, and is native to Japan, Korea, and China, according to scientists at the Mystic Seaport.
About 50 of the shrimp were collected in the river last fall and this spring, but scientists have only recently identified them as Oriental Shrimp.
Researchers have a lot to figure out, including what this new species of shrimp could mean for other sea creatures in the area. "We'll also be looking at temperature tolerances of this new invader to understand how far north and south this species can spread, and to ask if the arrival of the Oriental Shrimp in New England and New York is a signal of climate change since this species is often associated with warmer waters," said James Carlton, director of Williams-Mystic, the undergraduate Maritime Studies Program at Mystic Seaport.
The Oriental Shrimp was first collected in New York City in 2001, but wasn't identified until this year.
The big question is how does a species of shrimp native to waters half-way around the globe end up here?
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"It was introduced from Asia to Europe in the 1990s in ships' ballast water, so it was only a matter of time before it got to the U.S. with overseas shipping", Carlton said.
Two students at the Mystic Seaport will begin studies this summer to determine the abundance of the Oriental Shrimp in the Mystic River and Long Island Sound.
