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Any ideas what this crayfish is?

Started by Guest_pes142_* , Jul 30 2008 06:36 PM

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11 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_pes142_*

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Posted 30 July 2008 - 06:36 PM

Hi all, caught this today when i was in the creek with friends, any idea what it is, and if it is native to Pennsylvania?

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#2 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 30 July 2008 - 09:12 PM

Red Swamp Crayfish male, probably form I. Need to see bottom for better determination. I do not think it is a native to PA or to the eastern seaboard for that matter but ashtonmj will likely be on top of that.

Edited by centrarchid, 30 July 2008 - 09:14 PM.

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#3 Guest_pes142_*

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Posted 30 July 2008 - 10:32 PM

It looks suspiciously like a crayfish sold at a pet store about two miles from where i found it, but when i asked, they had no idea of a species id on what they sold

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#4 Guest_diburning_*

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Posted 30 July 2008 - 11:52 PM

procambarus clarkii, red swamp crayfish or cajun crayfish.

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#5 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 31 July 2008 - 05:55 PM

It's a red swamp and they are definately not native. We are finding them with increasing frequency in MD.

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#6 Guest_teleost_*

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Posted 31 July 2008 - 06:21 PM

I'm sorry to derail but why are P. clarkii so quickly being distributed outside of range? Are they aquarium releases, are folks trying to start a culinary product and these are escapees? I can't understand this.

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#7 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 31 July 2008 - 06:28 PM

I believe they are sold for bass bait, as well as for pets and livestock. Matt- have you seen any displacement of native species where the swamp crays occur? I know there's been some of that in the midwest.

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#8 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 31 July 2008 - 06:39 PM

Aquaculture, aquaculture, aquaculture. It is one the dominant, if not the dominant, speices used in crawfish tail meat and boiled crawfish. They are global. I've got a solid 6 inch stack of invasive crayfish papers in my file cabinet, a large part made up by P. clarkii. Every pond they were introduced into in MD has had subsequent populations found in the adjacent waterway. Nathan, yes we are seeing displacement of natives as well as potential hybridization.

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#9 Guest_pes142_*

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Posted 31 July 2008 - 07:04 PM

the good news is, in the creek we found this one, we caught about 30 crays, and this was the only invasive that i know of. The pet store up the creek sells these, so that is probably where it came from, a pet release.

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#10 Guest_Mysteryman_*

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Posted 01 August 2008 - 09:55 AM

*ugh*
The bait store down the road the other way also probably sells them. Why automatically blame the fishkeeping hobby when it could have just as likely been a fisherman or local Penn State college student from a biolab to blame? Sorry to be so testy about it, but dangit, we're about to have our whole hobby seriously legislated halfway out of existence, and I'm very angry about it, and people making kneejerk assumptions in the face of contrary evidence like that aren't helping matters.

*sigh* nevermind.

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#11 Guest_pes142_*

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Posted 02 August 2008 - 12:38 PM

I'm not saying automatically that it was a pet store release, i am just saying that i know the pet shop about two miles upstream sells them. It could have been anything, even a migration upstream or downstream if this species really can displace others. but sometimes, the obvious answer is just that, the answer. This store had no idea what species they were, and when i asked them about how to care for them, they had no idea what to do, and admitted that to me. Now i am not blaming them 100%, but it seems a likely vector for the release in my mind.

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#12 Guest_schambers_*

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Posted 02 August 2008 - 04:02 PM

Crayfish can also escape. I've had a couple go walking around my house. One found an aquarium it liked better than the one I had it in. They can't get out of the house, but someone with a pet door might lose one. They can go long distances over land.

Not nearly as likely as deliberate release or bait dumping, but possible.