Bloody red shrimp spreading through the veins of New York state waterways
Ann Arbor, MI — The bloody red shrimp (Hemimysis) is a recent invader to the Great Lakes basin.
A recent survey of the Finger Lakes region of New York detected Hemimysis at multiple locations in Seneca Lake, spanning the lake’s 61 km length, and in the Seneca-Cayuga Canal, 7 km downstream of the canal’s source at Seneca Lake. Hemimysis was not detected in any of the other ten Finger Lakes. The invader was most likely transported to the Finger Lakes accidentally by boating traffic.
Meghan Brown, an assistant professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, says "We predict that Hemimysis will continue to spread downstream in the Seneca-Cayuga Canal, and eventually the Erie Canal, from which it can spread to other inland lakes and river systems."
Once Hemimysis establishes in a lake it can form dense swarms near docks during the night, but during the day it hides near the bottom and in small crevices. Hemimysis can be found throughout the year, but they are most numerous during summer when adults can reproduce several times.
Original Publication Information
Results of this study, "Spatial, seasonal, and diel distribution patterns of Hemimysis anomala in New York State’s Finger Lakes," are reported by Meghan Brown, Richard Morse, and Kerry O’Neil in the special issue on Mysids of the Great Lakes, of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, published by Elsevier, 2011.
Contacts
For more information about the study, contact TMeghan Brown, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY 14456; mbrown@hws.edu, (315) 781-3464.
For information about the Journal of Great Lakes Research, contact Marlene Evans, Editor, National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 3H5, Canada; jglr@ec.gc.ca; (306) 975-5310.
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