{"id":65957,"date":"2025-10-08T01:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T01:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/65957\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T01:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T01:21:11","slug":"worlds-most-invasive-predator-terrorizing-east-coast-is-delicious-and-should-be-eaten-to-stop-its-spread-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/65957\/","title":{"rendered":"World’s most invasive predator terrorizing East Coast is delicious and should be eaten to stop its spread, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the world’s most invasive species has arrived on the East Coast – and experts say that one way to fight back is to eat the ‘delicious’ creature.<\/p>\n

The tiny predator has started showing up along beaches and bays from Maine<\/a> to Delaware<\/a>, threatening to impact business and wildlife.<\/p>\n

But restaurants across the Long Island Sound are combating the dangerous creature by turning it into a ‘remarkable’ and ‘intense’ dish that can be served fermented, in a stock or as a curry.<\/p>\n

The culprit is the European green crab, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has branded a ‘voracious predator.’<\/p>\n

The creature eats up to 40 mussels a day and lays 165,000 eggs a year, according to the One Fish Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The green crab is known for eating king crab, as well as juvenile salmon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NOAA warned that the crab ‘could potentially damage Alaska’s multi-billion dollar fisheries industries,’ which will also now be tracked on the East Coast.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The green crab, one of the world’s ‘most invasive species,’ is now on the East Coast<\/p>\n

\"Experts <\/p>\n

Experts say that one way to combat the crustacean’s spread is to eat the creature<\/p>\n

One way that locals are curbing the spread of the green crab is by devouring the crustacean.<\/p>\n

Mary Parks, the executive director of GreenCrab.org<\/a>, told the\u00a0Hartford Courant<\/a>: ‘Fortunately, green crab is also a sustainable seafood that is popping up on menus across the US.<\/p>\n

‘It can be served soft-shell, fermented, shucked for roe or transformed into stocks, sauces and soups.’<\/p>\n

The green crabs are at their most flavorful and desirable within 12 hours of molting, when their shells are still soft and their tissues are tender.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zach Redin, a chef at the mobile fish market To The Gills, started cooking with green crab this year.<\/p>\n

He said: ‘When you make a stock with green crabs it starts off gray and cloudy and then becomes this dark green color. It has this intense crab flavor that is just remarkable.<\/p>\n

‘You can make it with blue crabs but it wouldn’t have the same flavor.’<\/p>\n

\"Green <\/p>\n

Green crabs can be found on both coasts of North America, Australia, Argentina, Japan and South Africa<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The green crab’s flavor has been described as ‘unique’ or ‘intense’ (file photo)<\/p>\n

Redin called the flavor of the green crabs ‘unique’ and ‘intense,’ which surprises people when they try it.<\/p>\n

The chef added: ‘The green crab flavor is so intense, but a lot of people don\u2019t know what to do with them because there\u2019s no practically meat on them.<\/p>\n

‘They\u2019re very tiny crabs so they\u2019re mostly used for stock or making a crab chili oil. But once people learn how to cook them, it\u2019s really a lot of fun.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

He predicted that green crabs will appear on more menus as more people discover their exotic flavor.<\/p>\n

Redin recently sold\u00a0soft-shell green crabs, green crab curry and green crab stock.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite its taste, there are still plenty of reasons to be cautious about the green crab.<\/p>\n

The creature decimates marine environments while rapidly eating a variety of shellfish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Green crabs can live on nearly any coast, including rocky shores, cobble beaches and tidal marshes.<\/p>\n

The animal can tolerate a wide range of temperatures and salinity, which makes it extremely adaptable to a variety of habitats.<\/p>\n

\"They <\/p>\n

They can be identified by counting the five spines behind the eye on each side of its shell<\/p>\n

\"Green <\/p>\n

Green crabs are not always colored green, as they can have shades of brown and yellow<\/p>\n

\"When <\/p>\n

When the green crab is molting, which is when it is most flavorful, the bottom can turn orange or red\u00a0(file photo)<\/p>\n

One of the challenges in dealing with green crabs is that they are not actually always colored green.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The top of a green crab\u2019s shell might be dark brown or dark green with small yellow patches. When it\u2019s molting, the bottom can turn orange or red.<\/p>\n

Instead, green crabs can be recognized by the unique shape of their shell.<\/p>\n

According to NOAA, the best way to identify green crabs is by counting the five spines behind the eye on each side of its shell.<\/p>\n

Green crabs first reached North America in the 1800s.<\/p>\n

The creature likely traveled from Europe in the ballast water of merchant ships.<\/p>\n

The first recorded sighting or record of a green crab on the East Coast was in 1817, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, they may be transported with shellfish or equipment in aquaculture operations, which NOAA called ‘farming in water.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently, green crabs can be found on both coasts of North America, Australia, Argentina, Japan and South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the world’s most invasive species has arrived on the East Coast – and experts say that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[33727,539,44862,61,60,38169,43,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-65957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-alaska","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-delaware","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-maine","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}