An exotic crab was found in British waters for the first time after he had traveled 4000 miles over the Atlantic Ocean on a piece of polystyrene.
The short spinal hairy crab was found on Chesil Beach, near Weymouth, Dorset by naturalist Steve Trewhella.
The animal is usually found in warm water such as the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, but was washed in the United Kingdom on a polystyrene shellfish buoy of Florida Keys.
The little crab hardly lived when he was found while Mr. Trewhella chose the marine nest after a storm.
Mr. Trewhella said: 'It was covered with goose septions that do not occur in our waters and was a certain sign that the object had been in the open ocean for a while.
“I saw a small crab who lived in a hollow that had made it in the polystyrene, it was a hairy species of crab.
'We have hairy crabs in the UK and at first glance it was very similar to ours. However, my gut feeling was that this crab had been traveling on this buoy for a while. '
The crab then died, so Mr. Trewhella kept him at home in a freezer and contacted Dr. Paul Clark, a researcher in the Life Sciences department in the Natural History Museum.
Studies of the Natural History Museum have confirmed that the Pilumnus Dasypodus, a Caribbean species, has never been seen in British waters before
The short spinal hairy crab was found on Chesil Beach, near Weymouth, dorset by naturalist Steve Trewhella
The little crab was hardly alive when he was found by Mr. Trewhella, who chose the sea after a storm
Dr. Clark said: 'When Steve sent the crab to me, it was a bit of a puzzle. We had to look at morphology, the structure of the crab.
“It came frozen with me; We then put it in alcohol before we study it.
'We have noticed that the frontal margins are similar, but they had become slightly wider on the copy on the buoy. If you look closely, you can see the subtle difference.
“Because of the buoy we know that it came from the Florida Keys, but we were unable to contact De Visser.”
Studies of the Natural History Museum have confirmed that the Pilumnus Dasypodus, a Caribbean species, has never been seen in British waters.
Dr. Clark added: 'Invasive species such as these are a real problem because they take away the biodiversity of our area.
'If this continues to happen, we can get a new invasive species that comes from the Atlantic Ocean.
'If this had been a woman who was wearing eggs that then came out, it could create a number of young people who could establish a population.
“We just have no idea what effect the crab would have in Europe if it established a population.”
Experts said that global warming could lead to more of the exotic crabs that cross the Atlantic and if a woman survived and would have eggs invasive species with the life of native marine life.
A scientific article, entitled 'An American in Chesil Cove', has now been published, with details about scientific work.
There are 65 crab species in the UK, where the coastal crab is the most common.
