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The green crab (Carcinus maenas), a native of Europe, is an introduced marine pest in southern Australian waters.

An estimated 170 exotic marine pests have been introduced to Australia, either intentionally for aquaculture, or unintentionally in ballast water or by ship's fouling. Of these, about 10 are regarded as pests. The Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests, based at the Hobart laboratories of CSIRO Marine Research, is compiling a 'danger list' of pest species and developing detection kits so that communities can be marshaled to help prevent their spread. Scientists are visiting known pest sites in Australian ports to assess the impact of the pests and estimate the risk of their spreading.

Photographer : CSIRO Marine Research.

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