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10 billion snow crabs have disappeared off the Alaskan coast. Here’s why

In the eastern Bering Sea, the crabs’ population plummeted after a marine heat wave

A photo of freshly caught snow crabs packed into boxes on the deck of a ship.

Higher water temperatures boost snow crabs’ appetites. Researchers think a heat wave caused billions of snow crabs in the Bering Sea to starve to death.

Buddhika Weerasinghe/Stringer/Getty Images News

By Jude Coleman

From 2018 to 2021, an estimated 10 billion snow crabs disappeared from the eastern Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, with the population plummeting to record lows in 2021.