Antarctica's marine life will be wiped out by an invasion of sharks, crabs and other predators if global warming continues, scientists have warned.
"Sharks are going to arrive in Antarctica as long as the warming trend continues, a bit more slowly than crabs -- crabs are going to get there first. But once they do get there they are capable of eating the organisms that live there," Prof Cheryl Wilga said. Prof Wilga of the University of Rhode Island in the United States is the leader of the international team that is currently studying the effects of climate change in the continent. Animals that live on the seafloor of Antarctica are some of the strangest creatures on Earth. According to the scientists, the arrival of sharks and shell-crushing bony fishes would lead to dramatic changes in the number and proportions of species found there. Shrimp, ribbon worms and brittle stars are likely to be the most vulnerable to population declines. The researchers have called for urgent local and global actions to protect this last pristine environment.
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