According to scientists, the population of pink slugs is increasing due to the fact that the water temperatures in the coasts of Northern California are increasing alarmingly.
The pink slugs are approximately 1 inch long and grow in the tide pools near the northern and central Californian coastline.
The increasing ocean temperatures happen because of the overall global climate change. The global warming is forcing other marine creatures, like the dolphin, to change its range.
There are some species that benefit from the change, for example the Hopkins’ Rose nudibranch, also known as the pink slug.
The Hopkins’ Rose nudibranch is a marine creature that lives in the waters of Southern California, but has been known to live in Central California and the north side of San Francisco, as well.
In the last couple of weeks, marine experts have noticed a large population of the pink slug species in the tide pools of San Luis Obispo and Humboldt, both California counties.
The researchers say that they’ve never seen such a large number of pink slugs in these regions, until now.
John Pearse, one of the authors of the new study and a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the UC Santa Cruz, explained that he has not seen such a large population of pink slugs in a very long time.
Professor Pearse said that the Hopkins’ Rose nudibranch can usually be found in the southern area, and have been absent from these regions from more than ten years.
Pearse adds that the one of the most exciting things about this event is that his team of scientists has published a study back in 2011 in which they predicted a change in the oceanic conditions, which will make the pink slugs move from their usual habitat.
Seeing their prediction come true was very exciting to the researchers, according to professor Pearse.
The scientists are certain that this massive increase in pink slug population is a result of the warming of the oceans.
The researchers have been studying this species of marine mollusk for a very long time and stated that the global change is causing the increase.
According to the marine biologists, this is all part of the climate change that has been affecting our planet in the last few decades.
Image Source: simviation
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