Abstract

The Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis Milne Edwards, was introduced into western Europe, probably in ship’s ballast water, in about 1912 and subsequently spread through much of northern continental Europe. UK records were rare until the 1970s when low numbers of crabs were recorded in the Thames estuary. In the 1990s, however, mitten crab numbers in the Thames catchment escalated and crabs are now being reported in other English river systems. The crabs reproduce and develop as larvae in estuaries before the juvenile crabs walk upstream into freshwater, At about five years old, sexuallymature crabs migrate back to the estuary in large numbers to breed and probably die. The large crabs cause environmental damage in freshwater systems, burrowing into riverine earthworks, eating most things animal and vegetable and competing ecologically with local freshwater fauna including crayfish. As crab numbers continue to increase in the Thames, a potential means of control is by commercial harvesting for the culinary trade, mitten crabs being considered a delicacy back home in China.

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