SALEM — The search that started this spring in waters along the North Shore is the marine biologist's version of the hunt for Whitey Bulger.
There are differences, of course.
The FBI is looking for an aging gangster and his younger blond girlfriend, while the band of volunteers assembled by Salem Sound Coastwatch is on the prowl for a long list of invasive species that pose threats or potential threats to the local ecosystem.
No. 1 on the most wanted list, or, at least, the newest arrival, is the European rock shrimp, which was found for the first time in North American waters last summer in Salem Harbor.
Nobody knows the extent of the threat this small shrimp — it grows to 21/2 inches — may pose, or even if it is a threat, but they are watching carefully and are concerned.
"You look at it and you go, 'Whoa, that's really different,'" said Barbara Warren, executive director of Salem Sound Coastwatch, a Salem-based environmental agency that monitors local coastal waters. The European rock shrimp has orange or yellow spots, white leg joints and, in its most distinctive feature, neon blue claws.
It was discovered last July near the docks at Hawthorne Cove Marina on the Salem waterfront during a survey by a state agency, Coastal Zone Management, and the MIT Sea Grant program. On Aug. 11, Salem Sound Coastwatch made simultaneous findings in salt marshes near Salem State University and in Gloucester.
There is no way to know how the shrimp got here, but officials speculate it may have come by ship. Many invasive species are released from the water ballasts of large ships, according to an official at CZM. The water in ships' hulls, which provides stability, became such a concern that two years ago the U.S. Coast Guard started regulating it.
However these strange-looking shrimp got here, they appear to be flourishing. Among the specimens found last summer were several pregnant females.
"Something's happening where they're getting to the point where their population is expanding — that's what we're seeing," Warren said.
The concern about the invaders from Europe is that they are about twice the size of native coastal shrimp and eat smaller crustaceans and the larvae of snails, crabs and even lobsters. A study in Sweden showed that an increase in green algae in saltwater may have been due to rock shrimp consuming smaller living creatures that help control the algae.
It's also possible, experts say, that these small shrimp may be consumed by other sea creatures and take their own important place in the food chain.
Local officials are worried because the shrimp appear to be spreading steadily, and their impact on the native ecosystem is unknown.
Last week, Salem Sound Coastwatch held a seminar to train volunteers to hunt for invasive species from Marblehead to Gloucester. The agency showed samples of European rock shrimp and other species and handed out copies of "A Citizen's Guide to Monitoring Marine Invasive Species."
Anyone who is interested in joining the monthly hunts can contact the agency at 978-741-7900.
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