Kiran Chug writes in the Dominion Post about giant New Zealand crabs which, says the author of a study into them, make New Zealand the ‘king crab capital of the world’.
The researcher found 14 new varieties in New Zealand waters, and work has begun to see how feasible it might be to start a deepwater crab potting fishery.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“King crabs, which grow up to 1.2 metres long, are already a valuable commodity for fishermen in the northern hemisphere.
“Dr Ahyong has been studying king crabs since 2007, and said there were now known to be 23 varieties in the New Zealand, Australian and Ross Sea regions.
“In the entire Atlantic, where research had been under way for a longer period, there were known to be 30 species.”