Diversity and Distributions doi: 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2007.00434.x (2007)

In recent years, the Laurentian Great Lakes have been a destination for many invasive species. One of the most recent aliens to enter is the bloody red shrimp (Hemimysis anomala), which is native to the Black Sea. Many scientists wonder how these shrimp got to the United States.

Asta Audzijonyte, from the University of Helsinki, with a team from Finland and Austria, tracked the shrimp using mitochondrial DNA, the gene sequences found the the mitochondria of a cell. The shrimp found in the Great Lakes had most likely come from the Danube delta. The team were able to track the crustacean from the Danube delta, to the Danube River, through the Main-Danube canal, finally to the Rhine delta where the the shrimp could travel to the United States via the ballast water of Trans-Oceanic ships. With this method of tracking, the authors were able to figure out where the bloody red shrimp originated from.