The shellfish are coming! The shellfish are coming!
In our previous episode of Global Warming Alarmist Theater, All Creatures Slithering and Slimy, we saw alarmist forecasts about how giant snakes would take over America. In the current episode, All Creatures Creepy and Crawly, written by San Francisco Chronicle "science" writer David Perlman, he relays a prediction of a Pacific Ocean shellfish invasion of the North Atlantic:
Pacific Ocean shellfish - the mussels and snails, the clams and cockles - are heading for a mass invasion into the North Atlantic that could alter the entire ecology of both oceans as sea ice vanishes from the warming high Arctic, two California scientists predict.
It has happened at least once before, the scientists say - about 3.5 million years ago, when a relatively brief period of natural global warming kept the Bering Strait open and hundreds of species of marine life migrated from the Pacific through the ice-free Arctic Ocean to colonize the Atlantic. The genes of many animals - both shelled and finned - formed hybrid species after that long-ago invasion during the Pliocene epoch.
Geerat J. Vermeij of UC Davis and Peter D. Roopnarine of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco describe what they call "the coming Arctic invasion" in the current issue of the journal Science.
According to climate models of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which monitors global warming and its effects, the Arctic Ocean will become virtually ice-free by 2050 as global warming continues. And many climate experts and scientists, including Vermeij and Roopnarine, calculate that it's likely to be under way in little more than 20 years.
So the Arctic Ocean will become virtually ice-free by 2050? What happened to the global warming alarmist predictions of just a few months ago that the North Pole would become ice-free this summer? Oops! Never mind. It turned out that the Arctic ice shelf actually increased this summer by nearly a half million square miles over last year. Fortunately for Perlman and other global warming alarmists, most of us won't be around in 2050 to check on the latest ice-free Arctic prediction.
So I guess we can look forward to an Arctic seabed covered with shellfish. Mussels, and clams, and cockles! Oh my! Don't miss the next episode of Global Warming Alarmist Theater, All Creatures Creepy and Crabby, in which the Arctic seabed is overrun by Alaskan King and Snow crabs.
Burp!
UPDATE: Should you think that your humble correspondent exaggerated a bit with the titles of the Global Warming Alarmist Theater episodes, then check out this title actually used by Scientific American in their report on the same story---Invasion of the crustacean snatchers.
—P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.
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Don't Be Shellfish!
August 11, 2008 - 06:44 ET by saw the lightDoesn't that just warm my cockles.
What the heck are cockles by the way?
What caused the warming the last time this happened? Did the prehistoric animals drive too many gas guzzling SUVs and burn too much coal?
Maybe the prehistoric
August 11, 2008 - 06:48 ET by Seabeach4348Maybe the prehistoric animals farted too much. Yeah, that has to be what happened.
You know
August 11, 2008 - 06:51 ET by 10ksnookerAfter a while, all you can do is laugh in their faces.
It's like last weeks Great Barrier reef story, the reefs are going to flood. Yeah, well the Great Barrier reef probably looked a little bleached when the sea level was down 300 feet or so during the last glacial period. I bet that is what kills off the shellfish invasion forces.
One day you are on top of your game, the next day you are high and dry.
→ Cockles on the beach?
August 11, 2008 - 06:53 ET by Cool ArrowO nly in designated areas if I have any say in the matter.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE
some liberals
August 11, 2008 - 07:00 ET by mrbnatural..when pressed will admit that man-made global warming is a fraud BUT they will add that the end justify the means....i.e., government sanctioned light bulbs, corn syrup to run automobiles, 5 dollar a gallon gasoline to make you take the bus and scary stories about crustacean invaders... on a lighter note, gas is now 3.80 a gallon in Portland, Or.
Gas
August 11, 2008 - 07:18 ET by saw the light$3.49 in St. Louis (Missouri has low gas tax). I can't believe that we are looking at that and saying, "Wow, gotta fill up while its that cheap!"
Socialism is good for you
August 11, 2008 - 07:36 ET by PopularTechThat is because they know socialism is good for you. They are really smarter than everyone else and can centrally plan you life from cradle to grave.
Global Warming: Socialism’s Trojan Horse (LewRockwell)
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
3.80 in Oregon
August 11, 2008 - 09:36 ET by Dr_LibertyBut you still lack the freedom to fill up your own tank! <insert witty signature here>
This reminded me of an
August 11, 2008 - 06:57 ET by MidAmericaThis reminded me of an old Irish song from my childhood:
Cockles and Mussels
Written By: Unknown
Copyright Unknown
In Dublin's fair city
Where girls are so pretty
'Twas there I first met with
Sweet Molly Malone
She drove a wheelbarrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying, "Cockles and mussels,
Alive, alive-o"
Alive, alive-o
Alive, alive-o
Crying, "Cockles and mussels,
Alive, alive-o"
She was a fishmonger
But sure 'twas no wonder
For so were her mother
And father before
They drove their wheelbarrows
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying, "Cockles and mussels,
Alive, alive-o"
Alive, alive-o
Alive, alive-o
Crying, "Cockles and mussels,
Alive, alive-o"
She died of a fever
And nothing could save her
And that was the end of
Poor Molly Malone
Her ghost wheels a barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying, "Cockles and mussels,
Alive, alive-o"
Alive, alive-o
Alive, alive-o
Crying, "Cockles and mussels,
Alive, alive-o"
Will shellfish prices go down then?
August 11, 2008 - 07:17 ET by FoxBot89In this liberal doomsday scenario, I forsee myself feeding my family with shellfish, saving more money than going to Wal-Mart. Also, considering I like shellfish, my stomach welcomes the prospect.
Go Go Global Warming!
A shellfish invasion?
August 11, 2008 - 12:41 ET by goldenthroatDang! Break out the sauteed onions, some shrimp, a few Coors Lights, the mesquite grille and let's get cookin'!
"I think we're all bozos on this bus!" - Firesign Theatre
By the year 2052..
August 11, 2008 - 07:27 ET by ledurchiThe debate is over. If we do not act immediatly, there will be plagues of flying monkeys caused wholly by person-made global warming. If I am not around in 2052, let me just say now "I told you so".
Is there any chance that---
August 11, 2008 - 07:49 ET by misterbillIs there any chance that---the same GW will turn the water to cocktail sauce??? If so, why the dire feelings? We will be in the land of milk, honey and clams on the half shell.
Life will be an eternal appetizer..
Well, back into my cave. I am still working on how to boil the ocean so that we do not have to eat shellfish raw!!!!
PS Does the title "lemon shark" have anything to do with flavoring???
Bring it, "Some people
August 11, 2008 - 07:50 ET by SemperrightBring it,
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference.
The MARINES don't have that problem."
President Ronald Reagan - 1985
Ahhhhhh. Attack of the giant snails...
August 11, 2008 - 08:11 ET by c5thenIt'll be escargot everywhere!
Exactly why do species that crawl on the sea floor and who's eggs and larva float in the water require the arctic to be "ice free" so they can "invade" the North Atlantic? And why would North Atlantic species not equally "invade" the north Pacific?
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
There is Geological Evidence That...
August 11, 2008 - 08:47 ET by on-the-rocksprior to 5 million years ago (+/-), a portion of the Isthmus of Panama was submerged and there was a narrow seaway that connected the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean, allowing marine flora- and fauna-exchanges between the Tropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
While this seaway was open, the land-based mammals, reptiles, and such were prevented from migrating between North America and South America.
When the Isthmus of Panama was uplifted, blocking the seaway, it "opened the door" for terrestrial animals to migrate between the continental land masses. There are a couple of lakes in Nicaragua with fresh-water forms of marine organisms, the ancestors of which were trapped as the gradual uplift isolated these water bodies from the seawater. As the lakes gradually became fresher, progressive generations of these organisms adapted to the changing conditions. See http://www.answers.com/topic/lake-nicaragua
[If interpretations have changed, as to how these salt-water organisms "arrived" in these lakes - since I finished grad school in 1989 - please forgive.]
A good geological rule of thumb is - If it happens now, it has probably happened before, more than once.
Excellent! I love shellfish.
August 11, 2008 - 09:33 ET by Dr_LibertyI love shellfish and this invasion means that east coast people will have their own supply, will not have to order their oysters from the west coast, and hence the price will drop. (Plus, this means an increase in Atlantic "biodiversity," because multiculturalism is not just for homo sapiens anymore.)
Another reason to leave my SUV idling while I mow the grass. (It takes me about an hour to mow it.)
<insert witty signature here>
P.J. The great oyster land race?
August 11, 2008 - 10:49 ET by Gary HallP.J. The great oyster land race?
Let me get this straight. The Arctic ice cap is a floating feature of the Arctic. When we speak of the Bering Strait becoming ice free and "open," what we're really talking about is that it would be open to surface traffic - boats, if you will.
Now. Underneath this vast expanse of floating ice is the seabed. It's quite content to be there - and to be open - regardless of whether there is ice at the surface. In fact, submarines seem to make it thru just fine.
So.... what I'm picturing here is something like the mob scene to get into an Obama rock concert. Billions and billions of little crustaceans; oysters, big crabs, little crabs, star crabs, starfish, and all sorts of other little marine crawly creatures waiting at some imaginary starting line; all of them looking up at the ice thousands of feet above their little heads - waiting for it to recede?
Folks - even if all the ice at the surface melts, the temperature down on the ocean floor is not going to significantly change for thousands of years, if at all. These creatures have been free to migrate, whether or not the ice melts. They don't need someone to open the gate - above.
Besides, I've seen several special reports on TV in which the shellfish population in the Northeast was in decline - naturally, because of global warming. Looks like they could use some migrating creatures.
Oh my gosh - there's oysters invading my front yard!
(;~> gary
Yum! The Rocky Mountain
August 11, 2008 - 11:05 ET by wiwfYum!
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
wiwf - you speak of ...
August 11, 2008 - 11:21 ET by Gary Hallwiwf - you speak of ... "Rocky Mountain Oysters," perhaps. (;~> gary
the mussels and snails, the clams and cockles..., and scallops?
August 11, 2008 - 11:55 ET by CarlosSWe're going to need more butter, olive oil and hot sauce! :-)
Time to revive the Clam
August 11, 2008 - 11:57 ET by bassndudeTime to revive the Clam Bake on the beach. Clams and a bon fire...
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Just more baseless climate
August 11, 2008 - 11:45 ET by NL207Just more baseless climate alarmist BS. I'd like to see just what he is basing these claims on. The notion that any competent researchers would describe this as "harmful" based on the data available is preposterous. Did these muttonheads ever notice there is a direct Atlantic-Pacific water connection located at a place called Tierra del Fuego?
I love it. You say that
August 11, 2008 - 12:48 ET by meteor79I love it. You say that the article is "baseless" and then admit that you "would like to see what he is basing these claims on." So how do you know it is baseless?!
If you'd "like to see just what he is basing these claims on", why don't you actually read the Science article and cited references before you start attacking it?
http://www.sciencema...
Also, after you read the article, you can point out to me where this predicted migration is described as "harmful". It isn't.
Meteor, you've said some
August 12, 2008 - 00:25 ET by NL207Meteor, you've said some stupid things here in the past, but this one takes the cake.
Fish, shellfish and marine invertebrates are able to move around under their own power and don't need air to breathe. That should be obvious even to you. Below the ice in the Arctic Sea and in all its connecting bodies for at least the last 10,000 years and most likely very much longer, there has been and still is, liquid water .... No physical barrier has existed preventing these animals from moving around or migrating under their own power.
The same is true of the southern Ocean. Marine life is able to move freely across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Given these painfully obvious truths, how does more or less ice cover, present any physical impediment to the movements of these motile animals? I can understand how it might affect animals that rely on currents for their dispersal, but those aren't what these researchers are discussing. One or two ounces of common sense is about equal to two or three tons of pseudo-scientific bullsh*t.
NL, I will be the first to
August 12, 2008 - 09:31 ET by meteor79NL, I will be the first to admit that I don't know anything about shellfish and I didn't claim to. However, just because something doesn't make sense to you, doesn't mean that it isn't true or there is a logical explanation. That is why you need to actually read the article and do some research before you start attacking, or you will make yourself look like an idiot when somebody that actually knows something calls you out. In this case it doesn't even take someone that knows something, just someone that has read the article. So, since I have read the article I can tell you that perfectly logical explanations were given relating lack of sea ice to increased marine life. For example, when there isn't ice, "food for suspension feeding animals is more abundant allowing many planktonically dispersing, large-bodied, fast-growing species that require high productivity to survive in that ocean and to seed populations in the temperate Atlantic".
So you are right, the ice is not "blocking" these species, but there is another explanation you were too lazy to figure out on your own. Perfect example of why deniers like yourself aren't taken seriously...
And by the way, these authors don't ever claim that this "invasion" of marine species will be harmful; those are words you folks have put in their mouths.
You of all people should
August 12, 2008 - 13:54 ET by NL207You of all people should know better than to call me out on something like this pre-supposing I have not even at least skimmed the article.
I am not biologist either. I am a Phd Engineer, which you no doubt had already deduced. I have presumed you are a Phd/Phd candidate Meteorologist, based on the knowledge set you demonstrate here. My SO is a Phd in biosciences.
None of this expertise either of us have is relevant in this case because this is a matter of common sense.
Lets look at this more closely:
The article directly claims that migration and inter-mingling of Atlantic and Pacific marine species via a connection though the Arctic Ocean will increase because the amount of sea ice is now less than at any time in recorded human history. Yes? The article does not claim there were previously no such migrations before the ice thinned, does it? This species mobility is therefore, not new. The only thing this research has done is show that less ice has enhanced the quantity and distribution of food supplies of the numerous filter feeder organisms living in Arctic waters and by roughly how much. These organisms, in turn, provide more food for their predators.
For the region in question, recorded hisory amounts to about 150 years, yes? The article does not claim knowledge of what conditions in these same areas were like during the Holocene thermal optimum 5-6K years ago or even 1000 years ago during the Medieval Warm Period, does it?
The article implies without direct claim that such intermingling could lead to less species diversity between the Atlantic and Pacific basins, does it not? Less species diversity can only mean fewer distinct species, can it not?
In the hands of the Mainstream Media, this will become a headline : "Global Warming Threatens Mass Extinctions of Marine Species.", the actual subject of this thread. Indeed, this is already happening.
You want to suggest this is a scientific result of sufficient significance and novelty as to merit publication in Science? I suggest this article received its prominent publication because the editors of Science knew exactly where the MSM and other laymen would go with this information. I observe that this editorial policy is one of the reasons that Science is no longer the leading scientific journal in America.
I think a more appropriate place for this publication might have been one of the 50 plus journals that specialize in this kind of knowledge. http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Earth_Sciences/Oceanography/Journals/
It's Everywhere, It's Everywhere!
August 11, 2008 - 12:59 ET by CaringwhiteguyHow long before this occurance is blamed on Global Warming?
http://www.foxnews.c...
Should we start a pool? I'll take Tuesday at 12.54pm EDT.
What a shame, I was just
August 11, 2008 - 13:22 ET by general companyWhat a shame, I was just their in May. Great park, a must see
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
About two weeks
August 11, 2008 - 18:21 ET by TjexciteAGW is increasing erosion at alarming rate. According to some "scientist" the arch was not to fall for another 100 years and the increased rain also a caused by AGW making more rain in desert which then caused the arch to fall.
Stop Global Warming Erosion pay now. /sarc
This chestnut again
August 11, 2008 - 18:06 ET by ReaverThe icecap is melting! The icecap is melting!
Remember it wasn’t that long ago that they were writing about the icecap melting away completely this summer. Please reference the satellite photo at this link. http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/satellite-imagery-shows-artic-ice-still-unmelted/ It is a recent photo of the Arctic Ocean. The ice extends all the way to the North American mainland. There is no Northwest Passage this year and absolutely zero chance that the entire icecap will melt this year. I hope you like your shellfish on ice.
Too bad for the Discovery Channel
August 11, 2008 - 22:09 ET by CobraManThe shellfish are coming! The shellfish are coming! And they'll threaten the King Crab population!
This mean that the Discovery Channel will FINALLY stop running Deadliest Catch!
The Icecap will melt. The Icecap will melt! And the permafrost will disappear!
This also mean that the Discover Channel will also stop running Ice Road Truckers!
And people see that as a bad thing, why?
Shellfish? Why stop there?
August 12, 2008 - 08:55 ET by FoolicanA lobster invasion would be really good for seaside economies.