Post #15115

Ecological meat grinder in the Suez Canal Lessepsian migration. It sounds like a mass migration of aliens from a book about high technology and other planets. In reality, the situation is worse - this is the largest invasion of invasive species in the history of mankind. The Mediterranean Sea has turned into a battlefield, where the locals are gradually losing ground. There is such a place, the Suez Canal (photo 1). It was artificially dug by people. Thanks to it, merchant ships get from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean directly, they no longer need to sail around Africa and extend the route by 8 thousand kilometers. The problem is that sea animals no longer have to take the detour either. Over the 150 years of the canal’s operation, about 1,000 tropical species moved from the Indo-Pacific region to the Mediterranean: mollusks, crustaceans, bristle worms, and fish. Most of them settled in the eastern part of the sea, but some populated it entirely and even got out into the Azov and Black Seas. Right now, at this minute, there is a fierce struggle for resources and ecological niches throughout the entire water area. And the old-timers of the Mediterranean do not always emerge victorious: in some areas, 90% of all fish are invaders. These patterned beauties (photo 2) are mollusks from the genus Anadara. Natives of the Red Sea, but now they have populated even the Black Sea. These animals are accustomed to a lack of oxygen and local conditions only benefit them. It is doubly unpleasant that ecological niches are occupied by the most tenacious and persistent species. Take the Indian lionfish (photo 3). This fish will easily drive away Mediterranean medium-sized predators from its territory. And no one can stop this - the animal is armed with poisonous needles, any attack on it ends fatally for the attacker. People don't eat it either. But Mediterranean fish are caught only on the way. As a result, the lionfish has become one of the most dangerous invasive species in Europe. Another example of an invader is the striped eel catfish (photo 4). He, like other catfish, lives at the very bottom and feeds on everything that Neptune sends. Only, unlike the catfish we are used to, this species has poisonous glands, and the fish bite is extremely painful. Predators avoid the striped eel catfish and prey on its more harmless rivals. Moreover, the game is one-sided: practically no invasive species have been found in the Red Sea. This is due to the difference in the salinity of the water. For species from the Indian Ocean, the conditions of the Mediterranean are even more comfortable than their native ones, so they quickly get used to them. Whereas it is almost impossible for animals from the Mediterranean to survive in the salty waters of the Red Sea. Common laurel (photo 5) is one of the few species that was able to get into the Red Sea. Of course, this is not the end of the world, or even the end of the ecosystem. Evolution and time al