Invasive Species: Overview Of Killer Shrimp
General Information
The killer shrimp inhabits an aquatic ecosystem mostly in freshwaters. Their biomes are canals, lakes, rivers, and oceans. They can’t live in streams or anywhere with fast moving water because they can’t handle the pressure. They can settle anywhere with a hard floor or banked surface. They are a consumer and eat invertebrates larger than themselves and also small fish. Their feeding level is kind of complicated because it has no killer/predator in the places that they inhabit. I would call it a secondary consumer or an apex predator because it eats small organisms that eat plants, so that is where the secondary consumer is coming from. It also doesn’t get killed so that is where the apex predator is coming in. I think I will go with the secondary consumer just because the apex predator doesn’t make any sense at all.
Level of Risk
The killer shrimp is considered to be an invasive species. The Factors That Led to Their Current Status: The killer shrimp is an invasive species which means that it is dangerous to an ecosystem and its food chain or habitat. This amphipod is not currently in Ontario or anywhere in Canada but it is very harmful to all the ecosystems it is affecting. All the killer shrimp are native to a region in Eastern Europe and has successfully inhabited all the inland bodies of water in Europe. It has also found a way into the U. K. where it has been especially harmful there. According to many biologists, the killer shrimp traveled to the U. K. by latching its way onto boats or water equipment coming from Europe. It is also very easy for them to spread because if they stick themselves onto a boat they could just ride the boat to wherever, colonize in that area and start breeding. An ecologist by the name of Steve Ormerod said that it is very possible that the shrimp could find a way to travel across the Atlantic to North America. He also stated that the eradication of all invasive species is very rare, but especially with this species because of how small and how many of them there are out there. Scientists also fear that where the shrimp colonize, native species in that area could easily be wiped and extirpated from the area.
Another scary thing about them, is that they breed at a very fast rate and can also live without water for up to six days. What is being done to change the species status: There is currently nothing being done to remove the killer shrimp in Ontario or Canada. It has not yet reached any part of North America including Canada.
What Government, Indigenous, NGO or private organization initiative is in place to support the recovery/removal of yourspecies at risk: No one is doing anything for the removal and the eradication for the killer shrimp.
