Blue crabs in Mimico Creek an urban mystery
Summary
Something no one would expect to find in the Mimico Creek, a sea-water crustacean known as the blue crab which is notorious for the vice-like grip of its claws. In fact this was no great news for the hikers who hike at the Mimico Creek who were carrying out an erosion survey on behalf of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority from which they found about half-dozen of the beasts, mostly immersed in the slow green waters of the Mimico. The most fascinating thing about all is that they were alive albeit a long, long way from their home and native land. Their natural habitat extends from the briny waters off Nova Scotia all the way south to the faraway coast of Uruguay, with the greatest concentrations to be found in Chesapeake Bay and along the salty shores of North Carolina and Louisiana. The of how the crabs came from, who brought them here, how are they surviving in this totally different habitat from what they had originated has been a mind boggling question for all. Provincial officials promptly ran tests to determine the salinity of the stream, using a device known as a salt pen. They found chloride readings that were significantly higher than expected. Those findings raise two possibilities — either the level of salt in the creek was never high enough to support the crabs, or not for long, or the level plummeted between July and August. During the course of their research, the Canadian experts also searched the Internet for clues, and they turned up a series of photographs posted by a local woman who had stumbled upon some blue crabs at Mimico Beach in April of last year.
Response
I am very astonished to hear about this incident mainly because it is occurring very close to where I live. It is also something that we wouldn't want it to happen because their habitat is not here or nowhere close to here and either it is disturbed or moved that is why they are coming here. Research has shown that they aren't that good swimming crabs that would swim all the way from Nova Scotia to Toronto, someone must have brought them here. Nobody seems to know how long the crabs were able to survive in the urban wilds of Bloor Street West. Live specimens were first found on July 15 and again on July 21. Following July 27, only dead crabs were found, therefore we do know by now that these crabs are not surviving in the Mimico creek. They found saline levels that were not nearly high enough to sustain these crabs which explains them being not able to survive. It turns out that blue crabs don’t absolutely require salt water to survive, or not all the time. In fact, they actually seek out inshore brackish water for reproduction so it would make more sense if these crabs were found in Niagara falls or the Niagara river. These rare crabs might have fell from a truck as it travelled along Bloor Street over the Mimico Creek or maybe someone deliberately tossed the crabs into the stream — who knows why? The mystery of the Mimico creek remains unsolved.
Source - MLA Format
Ross, Oakland. " Blue crabs in Mimico Creek an urban mystery - thestar.com." News, Toronto, GTA, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Canada, World, Breaking - thestar.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 June 2012. <http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1197804--blue-crabs-in-mimico-creek-an-urban-mystery>.
Something no one would expect to find in the Mimico Creek, a sea-water crustacean known as the blue crab which is notorious for the vice-like grip of its claws. In fact this was no great news for the hikers who hike at the Mimico Creek who were carrying out an erosion survey on behalf of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority from which they found about half-dozen of the beasts, mostly immersed in the slow green waters of the Mimico. The most fascinating thing about all is that they were alive albeit a long, long way from their home and native land. Their natural habitat extends from the briny waters off Nova Scotia all the way south to the faraway coast of Uruguay, with the greatest concentrations to be found in Chesapeake Bay and along the salty shores of North Carolina and Louisiana. The of how the crabs came from, who brought them here, how are they surviving in this totally different habitat from what they had originated has been a mind boggling question for all. Provincial officials promptly ran tests to determine the salinity of the stream, using a device known as a salt pen. They found chloride readings that were significantly higher than expected. Those findings raise two possibilities — either the level of salt in the creek was never high enough to support the crabs, or not for long, or the level plummeted between July and August. During the course of their research, the Canadian experts also searched the Internet for clues, and they turned up a series of photographs posted by a local woman who had stumbled upon some blue crabs at Mimico Beach in April of last year.
Response
I am very astonished to hear about this incident mainly because it is occurring very close to where I live. It is also something that we wouldn't want it to happen because their habitat is not here or nowhere close to here and either it is disturbed or moved that is why they are coming here. Research has shown that they aren't that good swimming crabs that would swim all the way from Nova Scotia to Toronto, someone must have brought them here. Nobody seems to know how long the crabs were able to survive in the urban wilds of Bloor Street West. Live specimens were first found on July 15 and again on July 21. Following July 27, only dead crabs were found, therefore we do know by now that these crabs are not surviving in the Mimico creek. They found saline levels that were not nearly high enough to sustain these crabs which explains them being not able to survive. It turns out that blue crabs don’t absolutely require salt water to survive, or not all the time. In fact, they actually seek out inshore brackish water for reproduction so it would make more sense if these crabs were found in Niagara falls or the Niagara river. These rare crabs might have fell from a truck as it travelled along Bloor Street over the Mimico Creek or maybe someone deliberately tossed the crabs into the stream — who knows why? The mystery of the Mimico creek remains unsolved.
Source - MLA Format
Ross, Oakland. " Blue crabs in Mimico Creek an urban mystery - thestar.com." News, Toronto, GTA, Sports, Business, Entertainment, Canada, World, Breaking - thestar.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 June 2012. <http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1197804--blue-crabs-in-mimico-creek-an-urban-mystery>.