Pacific oysters are dominant on Sweden's west coast

The Pacific oyster has taken over in the Swedish west coast county of Bohuslän. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have found that the invasive species accounts for two-thirds of the biomass of all mussel and oyster species. This is not necessarily a bad thing, except for beachgoers, who can cut themselves easily on the razor-sharp shells. In the summer of 2007, a new species was observed in large numbers in shallow waters in Bohuslän. The new species was the invasive Pacific oyster (Magallana gigas), also known as the Japanese oyster. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have now estimated the size of this Pacific oyster invasion for the first time. In terms of biomass, the Pacific oyster is the most abundant bottom-dwelling species and accounts for about two-thirds of the total biomass, including blue mussels and European oysters. "Although we conducted our survey in northern Bohuslän, it is ...