It takes more than a few tricks and a penchant for fetch to receive a prestigious animal award. A black Labrador from the Scottish Highlands just snagged one for her ability to sniff out “sea vomit,” a colloquial name for the carpet sea squirt, an invasive marine creature threatening the waters along Britain and Ireland, among other places. On October 15, Sgiath (pronounced Skee-ah) was crowned Animal of the Year by the nonprofit International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The 6-year-old pooch and her handler, Texa Sim, a marine ecologist based near Glencoe, Scotland, were recognized for their pioneering work in marine conservation. According to IFAW, Sgiath is believed to be the first dog trained to sniff out carpet sea squirt—which, if left unchecked, can smother native species and colonize infrastructure like oyster farms and fisheries. She has successfully sniffed out hundreds of colonies of the sea squirt, Kate Stephens and Victoria Gill report for BBC News.
In fact, Sim tells the outlet that when Sgiath catches wind of a sea squirt colony, she’s never wrong—even when she’s sniffing through layers of seaweed on tricky structures, like pontoons and oyster cages. Since first training Sgiath in marine detection, Sim has added to the sea squirt-sniffing team: a 3-year-old Labrador named Uisge, described as a “protégé” in the statement. The carpet sea squirt first appeared in the United Kingdom in 2008.
Scientists suspect the organism hopped aboard ships from its native Japan. The creature, formally called Didemnum vexillum, has already spread up the British coast, and conservationists are worried it will expand further. The sea squirt thrives in warmer waters, leading to increased concern as climate change continues to induce higher sea temperatures.
These and other invasive organisms can drain ecosystems of valuable nutrients, depriving endemic wildlife, Martyn Kurr, a marine biologist at Bangor University in Wales, tells BBC News. In Europe, spotting and controlling these invasive populations costs millions of dollars each year. But not touching them can prove disastrous: In 1969, an unchecked carpet sea squirt population nearly decimated a population of Portuguese oysters living off the coasts of Portugal and France, per Metro’s Sarah Hooper.
Carpet sea squirt colonies are hard to spot. They can be creamy white, tan, or even pale pink or orange, and they often cling to algae or seaweed, appearing like a layer of slime—or vomit. Traditional means of identification involve laboratory analysis and DNA testing, requiring valuable time and resources, Holly Evans reports for the Independent.
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