THESE aliens we’d rather not hear from, but they’re invading our coastlines in their thousands. From giant jellyfish and toxic seaweed to muscle-bound mussels and oysters, alien species are stowing away on container ships and wrecking marine habitats worldwide.
The first global assessment of the threat to fisheries and ecosystems posed by invasive marine species found that alien species have invaded 84 per cent of the world’s coastlines and that four-fifths of the aliens are accidental tourists – arriving either by ship or by escaping from aquaculture farms.
“Every day, thousands of vessels cross our oceans with invasive species hitch-hiking on their hulls,” says Jennifer Molnar of…
