Slimy Sea Squirts Invade Georges Bank Bottom

Note: This story has absolutely nothing to do with Michael
Jackson, although the sea squirt pictured below does look like a Michael
Jackson sex toy. width=”302″ height=”272″>
from
the Boston Globe

Goopy colonies of a foreign animal called
a sea squirt have carpeted a 6.5-square-mile swath of Georges Bank, raising
deep fears among biologists that the invader could hurt marine life in
one of the most productive fishing areas in the world.

Last year, federal scientists saw only a few small patches
of the gelatinous sea squirts on Georges Bank. But on a research voyage
earlier this month, they video-recorded dense mats of the animal on the
seabed, encrusting scallops in a formation fishermen say looks like fast-spreading
pancake batter.

Scientists worry the squirts may be smothering scallops or making the
bottom inhospitable to fish eggs, such as those of cod, that need the
gravelly
sea floor to protect them from predators.