Really Big but Young Virile Crayfish
Started by
Guest_centrarchid_*
, May 30 2014 03:07 PM
2 replies to this topic
#1
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 30 May 2014 - 03:07 PM
We caught this female out of a culture pond used for a caged fish trial. She was one of 500 stocked in last spring with a total length less than 2" so she was an age-1 at that time. At age-2 she is about as large as i have ever seen with a CL pushing 63 mm. Crayfish of this size from natural populations are pushing age-4. Most of her cohort was pushing this size.
#2
Guest_davidjh2_*
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Posted 01 June 2014 - 07:18 PM
Wow, that's a big girl. There must be plenty of food in the pond.
#3
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 02 June 2014 - 03:39 PM
Forage base is very good in the form of plankton, particularly waterfleas. Grass carp keep the macrophytes down. Problem is the crayfish are causing ponds to leak because ponds were not properly lined with clay. Virilus is not a major burrower yet they still penetrate the claypan even though they are not getting much more than a foot from the sediment-water interphase. We do not know actual production rate / standing crop but it is pretty good for a crayfish production pond based on numbers caught when running a corner seine.
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