Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
Sep 15 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Reports concerning the presence of a large number of killer shrimp in the British Isles. The Killer shrimp is considered to be a highly deadly and destructive nature and could cause severe damage to Manx river wildlife and lakes if it reaches the island. The anglers have been issued a warning to check their gears to ensure that no animal or debris is able to enter the island. The killer shrimp has its origin in Eastern Europe from it comes and over the past decade it has contaminated many lakes and rivers in Western Europe. It is capable of destroying the biodiversity of the environment which it enters as it is a predator of other aquatic life such as Mayfly, damselfly, water boatmen, midges, fish fry and fish eggs and also harms the existence of large native fishes as their normal diet consisting of insects and shrimp is wiped out only to be replaced by a large number of Dikerogammarus.

Great concern has been expressed by the conservationist in UK over the discovery of the Dikerogammarus in the Grafham water, a large reservoir in England. The shrimp has a unique ability to survive as it cannot be eaten by small fishes due to the presence of three spikes on the back of the shrimp which makes the small fishes choke when trying to swallow the shrimp.

Though there is a fair chance that the danger can be averted by taking the proper precautions as England has already taken steps such as warning the anglers and other water related people. Moreover, they have Dr. Calcum MacNeil, DEFA’S fresh water biologist who has worked on the destructive impacts of the shrimp concerned in Netherlands and is on the Dikerogammarus Working Party Group of the UK Environment Agency whose main aim is to provide quick technical solutions to the problem.