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Hey, Joe! Here's something you might be able to use your pond for:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_crayfish_giant" target="_blank

Uh... that's not new! That's just a '70s model Marzan slant-claw crayfish!

As a kid catching bait in the creeks of western Arkansas I reguarly got 5 to 6 inch crayfish(crawdaids). I threw them back in favor if the other species(2 to 3 inchers) because they were too big for bait for the available fish. They were even a different color and had different looking pichers. I wonder if I could get famous? i still remember where the creek is.

TubaTinker wrote:Hey, Joe! Here's something you might be able to use your pond for:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_crayfish_giant

Maybe he can open up a new chain - Yellow Lobster



(As long as it comes with a hearty serving of Blokesauce.)

tbn.al wrote:As a kid catching bait in the creeks of western Arkansas I reguarly got 5 to 6 inch crayfish(crawdaids). I threw them back in favor if the other species(2 to 3 inchers) because they were too big for bait for the available fish. They were even a different color and had different looking pichers. I wonder if I could get famous? i still remember where the creek is.

Check this survey of the species already known to occur in Arkansas. There are 61 species on the list, so the odds are yours is probably one of them, but for a much lower payoff in terms of personal fame, you may have seen it in a location they weren't aware of. Photos for some, but not all, and to really do the taxonomy I imagine you'd need references that aren't online, so you will certainly earn whatever fame you get out of it.

The locals will surely detest your research, since if you find any rare crustaceans it may interfere with plans to open open pit mines and such in the neighborhood.

windshieldbug wrote:Uh... that's not new! That's just a '70s model Marzan slant-claw crayfish!

Oh, yes -- the one with the "Maine tuna slide" on top!

I LOVE CRAWDADS! Really! I do! Yes, I'm from Missouri. To me, they're not
crayfish, crawfish, crawdaddies, crevisse, mini-lobsters, or anything else.
They're crawdads. My wife, Cindy, even tells me she when she was a girl she had one as a pet for awhile that she caught in the stream near where she lived with her family. There was a stream in the city park in the town I grew up and we'd go down, turn over rocks, and see who could catch the biggest one. We always let them go, because the stream was a run-off stream that we didn't dare eat anything out of it, but it was fun just the same. Yes, I love crawdads, boiled in Old Bay, and served with a bottle of hot sauce.

Bloke -- you gotta consider it. With swordfish, sea bass, both Maine and spiny lobsters, and a lot of other species in danger of overfishing, crawdads are the last great bastion of aquatic food.

bloke wrote:I'd need to "mess up" the pond to raise crawdads. My understanding is that crawdads (at least those I've stumbled across in swamps, etc.) prefer shallow muddy water to deep water with a definite "shore"...Is my understanding incorrect?

You're right on. Muddy water is often (though certainly not always!) a sign of higher nutrient content (i.e. decaying vegetation) that is conducive to larval aquatic invertebrates. Crawdad populations (most species we're familiar with, anyway) typically drop off in deeper water.

Joe, just fill bathtub with 4 inches of room temperature water, add two buckets of mud, then dump in two dozen of those yeller Tuba Tinker Criters and you're in the farming business-------New Orleans style.

The urban lakes and channels etc. around here support crawdads, despite well defined rocky margins, bulkheads etc. I doubt they're a wholesome food source here - heavy metals and other industrial pollutants - but I have seen people catch them to eat. There are about 400 species in the US, so there are presumably a few different habitats involved, but ours is "signal crayfish", which I think can handle just about any kind of cold fresh water.


It's also widespread in northern Europe, thanks to a possibly misguided introduction. As far as I know, it doesn't burrow, but some species do and apparently can cause some trouble, weakening banks, mud dams and so forth.

Biggs wrote:

bloke wrote:I'd need to "mess up" the pond to raise crawdads. My understanding is that crawdads (at least those I've stumbled across in swamps, etc.) prefer shallow muddy water to deep water with a definite "shore"...Is my understanding incorrect?

You're right on. Muddy water is often (though certainly not always!) a sign of higher nutrient content (i.e. decaying vegetation) that is conducive to larval aquatic invertebrates. Crawdad populations (most species we're familiar with, anyway) typically drop off in deeper water.

Different species of crayfish prefer different habitats. If you stumble across crayfish in swamps and those swamps are muddy and shallow, those species of crayfish likely prefer muddy shallow water. Some species prefer clear, rocky streams with fast(er) velocity currents. Yet still other crayfish species prefer clear water in lentic systems.

You're right in that muddy doesn't always equal high nutrient content. The blackwater (actually clear water) of the Okeefenokee Swamp in southern GA likely has higher nutrient (i.e., TKN and TP) than the Missouri River (aka, "the big muddy"). Bloke's pond with, if I recall correctly, the "perfect tinge of green," probably has enough nutrients to sustain a healthy population of crayfish. And in all honesty, if Bloke was interested in growing SIZEABLE (and I do mean portly) largemouth bass, he'd look into getting a few crayfish in his pond. Crayfish are calorie-dense prey items and Micropterus species enjoy eating them.

By the way, I think it's just amazing that--even in well-known creeks in heavily populated states--we're still discovering new species. Awesome.

Steven

dgpretzel wrote:There's something even more threatening...

I know of no controlled studies, but there is strong anecdotal evidence that everyone who ingests dihydrogen monoxide, in any quantity, no matter how small, eventually dies.

DG

No study needed. This is a fact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax

Everybody dies of something-------why not from crawdads and cheesecake!-----make a great obituary.

Back to crawdads, in Arkansas there is not only muddy water variants, but also cold clear water types. This would include samples found in the caverns. They are albino and blind.

My favorites are the three to five inch length that boil with the right blend of spices, potatoes, and corn on the cob.

Mark Twain said "Go to Heaven for the climate;to hell for the company"

Quite a few of these things in our backyard last fall after heavy rains:
more pics here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=12 ... id=2065664