Global warming breeds monsters
2002-08-01 13:16
Sydney - Global warming is turning the denizens of the deep into sea monsters, an Australian scientist claimed on Thursday.
Higher temperatures have given squid bigger appetites and faster
breeding cycles, according to George Jackson, from Tasmania's
Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies.
Jackson said researchers at the Hobart institute found that a one
percent rise in water temperature caused juvenile squid to double in size.
Last month a giant squid - a real behemoth - washed up on a
Tasmanian beach.
"The body alone was not far under two metres in length," Jackson
told Australia's ABC Radio. "It took about four people to turn it
over when we wanted to look at the underside."
Jackson said the super squid were moving into regions where
over-fishing had left them with no natural competitors.
"If places have been overfished, or the squid have been removed,
squid have often moved into those areas and established themselves very quickly," he said. - Sapa/DPA
- SAPA