PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — Officials are asking folks to keep a lookout after a highly invasive species of crab with a noteworthy feature was spotted on the Oregon Coast this week.
According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, a commercial fisherman caught what officials identified as a Chinese mitten crab on Tuesday in the Lower Columbia River, east of Tongue Point.
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Named for their distinctive furry claws, mitten crabs can vary in color from a brownish-orange to a greenish-brown, according to ODFW.
They add the fisherman “did the right thing” bringing it in to ODFW since they are not only invasive, but prohibited in Oregon.
“Mitten crabs caused significant infrastructure and ecological damage in and around San Francisco Bay when the population was at its height in the late 1990s,” an ODFW spokesperson said. “So, it is important to correctly identify this species and report it to your local ODFW office with the location found.”
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Officials said the crab found in the Columbia was a large male that could have been introduced illegally into the river by a person or by ballast water from a ship, which sometimes carries aquatic organisms to new locations…