Castaway critters rafted to U.S. shores on Japan tsunami debris

摘要

The 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan's east coast cast an enormous amount of debris out to sea - way out. Marine life took advantage of the new floating real estate and booked a one-way trip to America. From 2012 to 2017, at least 289 marine species washed up on the U.S. Pacific coast and Hawaii, hitching rides on fishing boats, docks, buoys and other nonbiodegradable objects, a team of U.S. researchers reports in the Sept. 29 Science. Organisms that survived the harsh 7,000-kilometer journey across the Pacific Ocean on 634 items of tsunami debris ranged from a 52-centimeter-long fish (a Western Pacific yellowtail amberjack) to microscopic single-celled protists. See Page 32 for a breakdown of species by taxonomic group.