As of 6:30 this morning Chicago time, the story is still up on the Guardian website.
This is what's relevant from the story.
Thousands of venomous crabs converged on the beaches of Cornwall due to rising sea temperatures caused by the climate crisis. The migratory creatures swarmed in the shallow water in St Ives, shedding their shells before returning to depths of up to 300ft.
The crustaceans are instantly recognisable for their long legs and pincers and have a venomous bite that is poisonous to their prey but harmless to humans.
That's right! The clickbait will drive the swimmers out of the sea. It did.
Their presence at Porthgwidden Beach was enough to put many bathers off entering the sea.
However, Kate Lowe, a marine photographer captured the event just days after a snorkeler was bitten by a blue shark during an excursion off Penzance.
This has happened just days after a snorkeler was bitten by a blue shark.
It is incorrect that the giant spider crab is not venomous. I don't know if crabs are venomous or poisonous, but they are not.
The Guardian got it wrong.
The article is about spider crabs, which are indeed crabs. They are coming into shallow, warm waters in Cornwall to moult together. About two days ago, the tabloids here had the story, and said these crabs were venomous but this was harmless to humans. The Guardian freelancer basically cut and pasted the story, including this phrase, which comes from a Google hit for “crab spider” (which is a spider, and is obviously venomous). They also headlined it “Venomous visitors”. There is only one known venomous crustacean, it is a remipedian (more closely related to a fly than to a crab).
Matthew sent a message to the Guardian to get them to fix the mistake.
Like the rest of the UK press, @guardian writes a crappy clickbait article using near-identical terms claiming these crabs are “venemous”. THIS IS NOT TRUE and is the result of google hits for “crab spiders”! Stop it! Pls RT https://t.co/pgoj5Wy2Tl
— Matthew Cobb (@matthewcobb) August 7, 2022
The headline stayed after four hours. I also follow them on social networking sites. Matthew sent me an email.
They won’t chnage it… Any more than any of the tabloids did. Google this are spider crabs venomous And you get about a dozen identical articles – from all the leading UK media – with the same crap cut and pasted…Come on, Guardian, get someone who knows to vet your science articles!
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