Chinese mitten crab: update – Clyde River Foundation

We’ve had quite a lot of interest in the mitten crab story today. As we all know, the tabloids love a good scare story so I’d just like to point out a few facts about the discovery, or the so-called “Chinese crab invasion”:

1) To date, the remains of a single Chinese mitten crab have been found in the River Clyde. This is the only evidence of the species in the wild in Scotland.
2) The origin of the crab (i.e. exactly how it arrived in the Clyde) is currently unknown.
3) The Clyde River Foundation appreciates the severity of the potential implications of this invasive non-native species. Our first priority is to determine whether there is an established population in the Clyde; survey work ongoing.

Everything we know so far is summarised in our original news article here.

Remains of a Chinese mitten crab found in the River Clyde. Copyright: Dr Willie Yeomans