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Red swamp crawdads(Procambarus clarkii)


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#1 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 25 May 2007 - 05:11 PM

Does anyone know how to breed these not-so-little critters? I have TONS of them in my creek, and the adults are HUGE (6-8in). I wanted to try breeding them since they're so common before moving on to a less common species.

#2 Guest_teleost_*

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Posted 25 May 2007 - 08:21 PM

Are you sure you have P. clarkii? I ask since according to information available to me, they aren't native to Georgia.

#3 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 25 May 2007 - 10:10 PM

Are there any others that look like them in GA? It's the only species I can think of it being.

#4 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 26 May 2007 - 09:00 AM

Well not being native to GA still doesn't preclude them from being there. They aren't native to Maryland and we just found new records last week, they aren't native to Europe and they are EVERYWHERE. If theyve been aquacultured in Georgia then its highly likely theyve found there way into streams, not counting bait buckets and pet trades (I heard of someone selling one for 8 bucks because it was a blue form!). If you think you have a P. clarkii and you can find a larger specimen, flip it over and look for it's gonopods (reproductive parts in males). They are the second set of swimmerts and are modified in males, therefore used in identification. In all Procambarus they come to a large 90ish degree angle that looks alot like a pipe wrench, especially in P. clarkii. The rostrum (head segment) of a Procambarus typically come to a single point. I'm drawing a blank about what the areola looks like on the carapace (segment behind the rostrum), I think it is very narrow though. If you do have them then well I'm sorry theyve probably displaced to some extent your native crayfish. Georgia has MANY species of native crayfish, so there are/were likely other species native to your area. Personally (my two cents) I wouldn't breed them since they are such a destructive invasive/non-native on native crayfish communities and benthic communities as a whole; what will become of the offspring if you do breed them? If anything, find yourself, or I can scan you some images from a key so you can positively ID what you have. If it's P. clarkii, collect all you can (while staying within your states regulations of course) and cook them up.

#5 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 26 May 2007 - 10:28 AM

I've seen enough pics to where I am atleast 95% sure I have P. clarkii. I've never seen any other species there. But at my house (the red swamps are at my grandmother's creek) there is another kind of crawdad that I'm not sure what it is. The biggest I've seen was a 2 1/2" male. I caught two immature ones today in a minnow trap. One is a male and the other is a female. I would post pics but my camera just died and I'm out of batteries. I'm going to try to get a possitive I.D. on these little crays and try to breed them.

#6 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 26 May 2007 - 11:03 AM

If it's immature and hasn't formed a gonopod how do you know it's a male? Or is it just a small form I male? Getting to genus can be fairly pretty easy using things like rostrum shape, areola width, gonopod shapes, claws somewhat.

#7 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 26 May 2007 - 11:27 AM

According to an article in FAMA magazine, male crawdads have the gonopod as soon as they leave the care of the mother, you just need a magnifying glass to see it. And also the males have less developed swimmerets. But you may be right, it could be a Form I male, I just can't tell the dif. between Form I and immature crayfish. Would an immature male be considered Form I? It's even worse that I don't know what species it is, so I don't know the adult size...

#8 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 26 May 2007 - 01:10 PM

If it's P. clarkii, collect all you can (while staying within your states regulations of course)...



As far as non-endangered crawdads go, such as red swamps, it's an all-you-can-eat/catch/whatever-you-want-to-do-with-them buffet




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