New And Notable

Recent arrivals in the US and beyond:

• Large schools of black mollies (Poecilia latipinna x velifera) have been spotted in Indiana. A new record for that state and by far the most northern record of this common aquarium fish in the US...uh, outside of an aquarium, that is :-).
• There has been an unconfirmed identification of a brackish water snail as Assiminea sp., in Coos Bay in Oregon. Here's hoping it just turns out to be a little known native species, because they found thousands of them.
• The Asian tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) was discovered last month in Louisiana. An aquaculture escape - last year a record of the same species found in Alabama was attributed to floods caused by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.
• The Sirex woodwasp (Sirex noctilio) has been found in Vermont, its first ever appearance in New England.
• A new species of fruit fly (Bactrocera invadens), reported to be in India in the last New and Notable, has now spread to Bhutan. It's spreading so fast, its scientific name is "invadens"!

Shrimply The Worst

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that a new non-native species of shrimp, Hemimysis anomala has been discovered in the Great Lakes. The shrimp, considered native to both the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, was found in great numbers this past November, near Muskegon port in Lake Michigan. Because that port does not see a lot of international traffic, it is thought that the shrimp were originally introduced elsewhere in the lake - biologists are expecting to find more populations closer to the point(s) of origin.

The article notes that two Canadian researchers predicted (.pdf) the arrival of this very species over eight years ago - it is the 183rd recorded in the Great Lakes, if you're keeping count :-).