odds ’n’ ends

BERLIN:

They have pointy eyes, prickly red claws, and they eat just about anything — an exotic crustacean is on the loose in Berlin’s central government district.

In recent days, people strolling through the capital’s leafy Tiergarten park near Angela Merkel’s chancellery have reported spotting unusually large crabs, “lobsters” and even giant “scorpions”.

What they have witnessed, in fact, is an invasion of the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) native to the southern United States and northern Mexico, say biologists.

The palm-sized critters have waved their claws at joggers, dog-walkers, cyclists and officials from nearby embassies and ministries.

Oliver Coleman, a crustaceans expert from Berlin’s Natural History Museum, suspects an aquarium owner dumped them in the park, which is already teeming with rabbits, foxes and the occasional wild pig.

He said many collectors value the freshwater crabs, also known as “Louisiana crayfish” or “mudbug”, for their deep red colour, “but usually not for very long”.

“After a while in a fish tank, they eat all the plants — and the aquarium quickly looks absolutely devastated.”

The species is considered a pest outside its natural environment, and wildlife workers and volunteers have started collecting them with nets, said Berlin city environment official Dirk Ehlert. (AFP)

PORTLAND, Maine:

Marine authorities in the US and Canada said Friday they will marshal resources to try to find out what’s behind a string of deaths of endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The animals are among the rarest marine mammals in the world, with only about 500 still living. The countries will collaborate on a report that could help craft future regulations that protect the vulnerable whales, representatives said.

Representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Fisheries and Oceans Canada both said ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear have played roles in the deaths of the whales, and that other factors also could have played a role.

The goal of the countries is to find out more about why 13 of the whales have been found dead this year and respond with solutions, said David Gouveia, protected species monitoring program branch chief for NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Region.

“The North Atlantic right whale is fragile, and one of NOAA and DFO’s most difficult conservation challenges,” Gouveia said. “Every factor impacting their ability to thrive is significant.” (AP)