Chinese Mitten Crab

[sam-cox]

The odd one has shown up in bass nets well up river on the Blackwater.

[Stoaty]

These mitten crabs are VERY aggressive. I dragged one out of the Thames at Thamesmead a few years ago the size of a dinner plate. It attacked my dog! They seem to be able to lift their claws much further back than our crabs and they WILL go for you.

[five bellies]

These mitten crabs are VERY aggressive. I dragged one out of the Thames at Thamesmead a few years ago the size of a dinner plate. It attacked my dog! They seem to be able to lift their claws much further back than our crabs and they WILL go for you.

 

[Guest franticfisherman2]

It said on the news this morning that they are moving up the coast at the rate of 200 miles per year! that's faster than our local bus service

Also, if they get into our rivers around here it's curtains for the native white-clawed crayfish. Scientists are "monitoring" the situation

As usual, nothing will be done 'til it's too late

[Sharkbyte]

Leon, I believe it's no coincidence that the Great Ouse contains many large Perch 4lbs+ and is also full of Signals. I just wished it flowed a bit closer to where I live.

[smalltincup]

Hi All

 

So in theory you could have a dinner out beside the river of crayfish and crab & catch some cracking perch. Sounds like a good reason for a overnighter to me

 

STC

[The doctor]

Just a further bit of info;

 

They originated in the UK in the Thames Estuary, and some of the tele reports stated that they came from China, historical evidence (yes I know Wurzel, science so it has to be wrong) shows that they were prevalent in the Rhine and Danube before this, so it is likely that they originated from here rather than China.

 

We have reasonable numbers now in the Humber, although they are becoming quite a pest in the Ancholme. They are a freshwater species, but migrate to sea (fully marine) to spawn, I've seen quite a few in recent years, bit of an oddity so people tended to bring them in for ID.

 

One of the rivers off the Humber (River Hull) has a number of becks and small drains running either into it or adjacent to; one of these is Barmston Drain, this ultimately ends up running out on to the beach at Barmston , where at the right time (possibly about 2 or three weeks time) they can be seen crawling down the beach into the sea. However, as only the females spawn at sea, you will only ever get females, the males tend to stay in freshwater.

 

Consequently, and as the males peel before the females and the females peel before they mate, all peelers can only be found in freshwater. Two things here, difficulty of accessing them in the peeling stage; the EA might not be happy about their expansion along our river banks, but I bet they would be a lot less happy about hoardes of sea anglers digging up river banks to get at a few mitten peelers.

 

Secondly, as sea fish are unlikely to encounter a peeling mitten crab, are they going to be a worthwhile bait?

 

I would suggest that the numbers will increase, they would appear to have found a niche and will be difficult to dislodge.

 

Value? I heard that the European version is significantly larger than the indigenous variety, the chinese do favour them and I also hear that in the states they are valued in the Chinese communities at $60 per kilo.

 

One major problem with the UK and possibly European variety, they are subject to a pathogen and a liver fluke, which makes them practically unsaleable with a UK or European stamp on them, so I guess they will proliferate.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Doc

[five bellies]

One major problem with the UK and possibly European variety, they are subject to a pathogen and a liver fluke, which makes them practically unsaleable with a UK or European stamp on them, so I guess they will proliferate

 

 

Doc sorry to be a bit Dense but this pathogen Harmfull to us or them?

[The doctor]

Hi Five bellies,

 

a pathogen is any infectious agent that causes illness to its host, the pathogen may be in a number of forms from bacteria, viruses, parasitic worms etc.

 

It doesn't necessarily follow that because the pathogen is disruptive to the host, that it would not have a deleterious affect on a human. Which is why we would not want to eat an organism that may have a virus in case we also get the disease.

 

It may just be a case of aesthetics, but I wouldn't want to take the risk, anymore than I would collect and eat mussels straight off a sewage outfall, although I seem to remember my old man collecting them on trips to the sea when we were kids, and we'd all tuck into them when we got home, after being cooked of course. The same was the case with winkles, but we'd never dream of doing so nowadays.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Doc.

[nemofish2000]

Last summer i found one in my crab traps that are in the duddon estuary cumbria. I contacted the natural history museum who asked me to send it to them for disection as it was the furthest north on west coast that had been reported. So just wondering how far north they are now.