Tiger Shrimp Sensationalism

Photo copyright 2012 by Jackson Landers. I've never had the
chance to photograph a tiger shrimp, so here's a plain old tiger.

 

 

I've been watching the situation with Asian tiger shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico for the last few years. While planning an expedition to Louisiana to hunt invasives last May for 'Eating Aliens,' I briefly considered pursuing the tiger shrimp. The idea was scrubbed once it became clear that people weren't catching them often enough for me to have a snowball's chance in hell of finding one before I went broke looking. We ended up successfully hunting nutria instead, with muscovy ducks as a back-up.

Sightings of the shrimp have increased since then and I think its possible that tiger shrimp might be poised wreak some serious havoc on the Gulf's ecosystem over the next decade. However, I have a major problem with the kind of yellow journalism I've been seeing about the potential problem. CNN has a headline today that reads, 'Scientists: Giant Cannibal Shrimp Invasion Growing.'

There is nothing in this article to substantiate this 'cannibalism' claim. Tiger shrimp eat other, smaller species of shrimp. But that isn't cannibalism any more than a bass eating a minnow is a cannibal.

It is entirely possible that the shrimp being spotted are vagabonds that come in through bilge tanks and do not breed in the Gulf at all. Fingers crossed. The DNA study that USGS is conducting should give us a good indication of that. USGS has an exceptionally good track record of doing research on invasive species that is of real and practical use rather than the endless self-serving studies that certain other government agencies are prone to. I look forward to reading their results.