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

© National Museum of Wales
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.

A luve Isognomon specimen under a rock in Hawaii© Brocken Inaglory / Wikimedia Commons
“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.

A fossil of Isognomon maxillatus© Hectonichus / Wikimedia Commons
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.
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