Crab grows for months inside a bottle adrift at sea and is found alive
A crab that spent around two months living trapped inside a plastic bottle adrift at sea caught the attention of Japanese scientists and revealed the impact of plastic waste pollution in the oceans.
The case was published in Ecosphere Magazine and described in a study conducted by researchers from Kyoto University and other Japanese institutions, after the discovery of the animal during an expedition carried out in July 2022, on the west coast of the island of Okinawa, in Japan.
Data indicate that the crab found was a female of the species Portunus sanguinolentus, known as the three-spot swimming crab, which managed to survive and grow by feeding on fish and algae that entered the packaging, but ended up becoming too big to escape.
When the animal was located, its carapace was already measuring around 8.8 centimeters wide, larger than the opening of the bottle, just 2.4 centimeters.
The hypothesis raised by scientists is that the crab entered the bottle when it was still very young. With food available inside the container, it continued to grow until it completely lost the possibility of getting out.
To understand how the crab remained alive for so long, researchers analyzed the contents of its stomach using the DNA metabarcoding technique. The conclusion was that the animal used the bottle as a kind of natural trap, where small fish entered the container and ended up serving as food.
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Scientists estimated how long the bottle spent in the ocean by analyzing the barnacles attached to its surface. Based on the growth rate of these organisms and the water temperature in the region, the researchers concluded that the bottle remained adrift for approximately 62 days. Which coincides with the crab's own growth estimate.
Pollution from marine debris is considered one of the main threats to ocean ecosystems.
Although the crab managed to survive, the authors highlight that individuals trapped in containers like this will probably never be able to return to the natural environment to reproduce, compromising the species.
Source: CNN