Museum calls on public to help identify exotic species washed up on plastic litter

Welsh museum experts are warning that species which threaten marine life are being carried to the coasts of Britain and Ireland on plastic litter.

Six types of bivalve, washed up from the south-east coast of the US, could out-compete natives such as scallops and the edible oyster for food and shelter.

One of the hitch-hikers, the Isognomon bicolor known more informally as the two-coloured purse oyster, has previously invaded Brazil and the Caribbean from Florida.

“Last July the UK recorded a sea temperature of 20°C in Cornwall,” says Anna Holmes, of National Museums Wales, who believes an “unusually large” amount of plastic waste, recorded since the winter storms of 2013, could have damaging effects.

“If the temperature continues to rise, some of these and other tropical visitors could become established in British seas and threaten our native wildlife.”

The bivalve species require a sea temperature of between 22 and 26°C to reproduce.

• The public can report any live bivalves, crabs or barnacles attached to plastic litter to rafting.bivalves@museumwales.ac.uk.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

More from Culture24's Science and Nature section:

Scientists in Gloucestershire name new species of prehistoric lizard after Harry Potter curse

Largest sauropod dinosaur ever found may be far smaller than thought, say scientists

"The ultimate in speed sailing": Moth master White aims to break women's nautical speed mile