Rampant Louisiana crayfish threaten future of French frogs

The Independent
By Alex Duval Smith in Paris
12 November 2004


Transatlantic relations reached a new low yesterday amid reports that a species of voracious giant crayfish from the United States is nibbling away at the French coastline.

The humiliation, for France, is compounded by the fact that the crustacean abomination - Procambarus clarkii - hails from Louisiana, the former French colony which France sold for a trifle in 1803.

The invader delights in preying on delicate French frogs and defenceless tadpoles, as well as devouring little fish and aquatic plants. "Wherever they go, there is no plant life left," said environment campaigner Jean-Marc Thirion.

Wetland warden Stéphane Builles said the bright red invader with its giant pincers multiplies at an alarming rate in hidden seabed galleries with discreet aeration chimneys. In these sub-aquatic dug-outs, each female lays up to 700 eggs, twice a year. Scientists say that in the northern Gironde region of the Atlantic coast and in all the marshlands lining the Garonne river, the population of the crayfish - whose 20cm length gives them unrivalled paddling power - has reached up to 3 tonnes per hectare.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=582021

GOOD EATING! and they can get gigantic under the right conditions, like 4-5 inches long.

just kidding, though I eat them whenever I can

pretty much any seafood really...

Did the French import the crayfish?

There have been a lot of European countries that imported crayfish from the US for aquacultural reasons. Often the find out what I found out-crayfish are particularly hard to control.