Stalin’s last Red Army

4 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Red king crab © National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - www.afsc.noaa.gov

Red king crab © National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – www.afsc.noaa.gov

The king crab is native to the Bering Sea, north Pacific Ocean, around the Kamchatka Peninsula and neighbouring Alaskan waters. It was introduced artificially by Soviet Union‘s Joseph Stalin into the Murmansk Fjord, Barents Sea, during the 1960s to provide new, valuable catch for Soviet fishermen. The average temperature of the water for general survival of the crab is between 39°F (4°C) and 50°F (10°C). The crabs prefer to be in the lower temperatures but can continue a stable life cycle in the warmer temperatures. The depth at which it can live has a lot to do with what stage of their life cycle they are in; newly born crabs stay in the more shallow waters where there is plenty of food and protection for them to survive.   read more…

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