A Scottish detection dog helps find invasive sea squirts

A Labrador working along Scotland’s coast is helping a marine ecologist spot an invasive animal that can smother native wildlife and threaten oyster farms.

Sgiath has found hundreds of carpet sea squirt colonies, according to new BBC reporting. Her handler, Dr Texa Sim, trains her to recognise the creature’s scent and stare when she finds it, including among seaweed and marine equipment at low tide.

The idea grew from Sim’s work restoring native oysters on Scotland’s west coast, The Herald reports. A younger Labrador, Uisge, has since joined the project, and the dogs have also detected the species in water samples.

These are reports from a developing project. The articles provide no formal accuracy rate or evidence that detection has yet reduced the wider invasion. Finding a colony is only the first step towards managing it.

Even so, the work offers a practical addition to marine monitoring: a trained nose can help people notice small, easily missed invaders earlier.

Sources

• BBC — Sgiath’s field work and training
• The Herald — origins of the project and a second trained dog