Researchers Have Finally Figured Out Why 10 Billion Crabs Died in Alaska Over the Last 5 Years

Amaze Lab

Over the last few years there’s been a mass die-off of snow crabs in the Bering Sea just off the coast of Alaska. Researchers estimate that between just 2018 and 2021, some 10 billion of the crabs have disappeared meaning the species is in trouble.

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00:00Over the last few years, there's been a mass die-off of snow crabs in the Bering Sea,

00:08just off the coast of Alaska.

00:10Researchers estimate that between just 2018 and 2021, some 10 billion of the crabs have

00:16disappeared, meaning the species is in trouble.

00:18And now, according to a new report by researchers with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric

00:23Administration's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, they might finally know

00:27why.

00:28Researchers found that in 2018, snow crab populations were reaching historic highs,

00:32leading to a $150 million crabbing industry in Alaska.

00:36However, after marine heatwaves hit their habitats, their numbers plummeted, killing

00:40billions of them, with the Alaskan crabbing industry only taking in $24 million in 2022.

00:47These heatwaves are becoming more common as our planet gets warmer, and it prevents typical

00:51sea ice formation.

00:52That ice has an annual melt cycle that sends frigid meltwater to the bottom of the sea,

00:56where the crabs call home.

00:57When the sea ice never formed during a marine warming period back in 2018, it couldn't eventually

01:02melt and create a cold summer habitat for the crabs, which the study has found increased

01:07the metabolisms of the previously mentioned record number of crabs, leading to too many

01:11snow crabs and too little food, ultimately resulting in a mass die-off.

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