Friday, April 27, 2012

Seafood Invasion

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California has shut down due to being deluged by jellyfish like creatures called "salp."

Before you roll your eyes thinking that this is a case of "save the salp," this is actually just a safety issue. The salp are clogging the screens meant to keep marine life out of the water intake of cooling units. It's probably a good idea to shut down a nuclear plant if its cooling units are compromised.

The plan to deal with the salp is to just wait it out.
Funny. The story about the nuclear power plant is not written with any panic or concern. But this one was.

Giant cannibal shrimp more than a FOOT long invade waters off Gulf Coast

"Cannibal" and "invade" in the headline. Pretty scary, huh? Do you know what shrimp they are talking about? Tiger shrimp.

Yes. Those nice tasty large shrimp that you get in Asian food are becoming native in the U.S. They are known to eat the native shrimp and federal biologists are worried that they will displace the native species.

The funny thing is that the story mentions that in Florida there was an attempt at a tiger shrimp farm, but it failed. Now, somehow, they are growing in the wild.

Could this become a biological disaster? Maybe. Or will the population of tiger shrimp come to a harmonious balance with their food source? Can we do anything about it? Should we even try?

I don't know, but it doesn't scare me more than jellyfish shutting down a nuclear plant.

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