Freshwater crayfish: the forgotten invaders wreaking havoc across Africa

theconversation.com...

another invasive species. Crayfish introduced to Africa are out of control.

Crayfish interlopers slow down plant growth, eat rice seedlings and can even make dams’ banks collapse. In Europe, alien crayfish have decimated native crayfish species partly through competition. North American species also carry a fungus to which they are immune but which is deadly to native European crayfish.

same thing happened in China. the Chinese learned to farm them and now gobble them up.

anyone with any info on this???

a reply to: ElGoobero

We call ‘em crawdads where I come from, and boy they are tasty.

a reply to: kaylaluv

We call em crawdads too. My yard is full of em. Not only are they good eating, they make great bait too.

I love some mud bugs. Is an invasive species really that bad if it's delicious? Do people not know how good they taste?

I'd make some kind of education campaign showing people how to eat them, and bam. No more invasive species.

People like to be humane, they used to leave the goldfish go in the lakes over here if they wanted to get rid of their fish bowl or aquarium. They also sold goldfish as bait to fishermen many years ago. Now we have a lot of huge goldfish in the lakes here. The DNR seems to say that these big goldfish were always here, just how long have people been dumping their goldfish into the lakes? The Fish and wildlife service is a lot more honest, they will admit they made mistakes, the DNR covers things up.

a reply to: underwerks

Right? It's like saying invasive bacon. You mean a cornucopia of free food?

originally posted by: KawRider9
a reply to: underwerks

Right? It's like saying invasive bacon. You mean a cornucopia of free food?

I'm having visions of invasive lobsters and tomahawk rib-eyes as we speak.

originally posted by: underwerks
I love some mud bugs. Is an invasive species really that bad if it's delicious? Do people not know how good they taste?

I'd make some kind of education campaign showing people how to eat them, and bam. No more invasive species.

I was thinking the same. Termites, crickets and grasshoppers are a common staple on the continent. Teach em to eat crawdad and problem solved!!!!

We get them in Montana up to 6 inches long. The family always has a pot in the river...

Doesn't seem fair.
They get an invasive species that's delicious.

Here in america we get zebra mussels, ash borers and stink bugs.

a reply to: underwerks

Depends on how much they mess up the local environment..


If an American crawfish only replaces the European variety and eats and is eaten by the same animals who ate the European version.. then no real loss, but if they have no predators...

It can be very bad.

a reply to: ElGoobero

How is the European crawfish native to Africa? It must have been an invasive species at one time. Probably slaughtered all the African Crawfish with their Imperialism. Typical.

Open Borders for all Invertebrates!

Just eat them.....

sounds like a delicious problem to have.

We are doing employee appreciation today. Chef is down by our creek setting up our big crawfish boil.

a reply to: JoshuaCox

If an American crawfish only replaces the European variety and eats and is eaten by the same animals who ate the European version.. then no real loss, but if they have no predators...

Anywhere people know how delicious they are, you don't have to worry about there being no predators. In a continent with a food problem I'd think having a new edible species would be a good thing.

My only issue would be the waters they live in. As polluted as a lot of Africa is from industry they may not be safe to eat in some areas.

a reply to: ElGoobero


Time to send the Cajun Army to Africa and teach these starving nations how to eat?

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: underwerks
I love some mud bugs. Is an invasive species really that bad if it's delicious? Do people not know how good they taste?


I'd make some kind of education campaign showing people how to eat them, and bam. No more invasive species.

I was thinking the same. Termites, crickets and grasshoppers are a common staple on the continent. Teach em to eat crawdad and problem solved!!!!

We get them in Montana up to 6 inches long. The family always has a pot in the river...

A six inch morsel of deliciousness? Wow like eating a jumbo prawn.

I'm lucky to get 2 inches of goodness here.

There is a cold clear river running through Modesto that has tons of real big blue crawdads in it. You can just reach down and grab them off the bottom with your hands. Gotta be careful though

Attack of the Clones

Males they do not need any stinking males.

Kinda spreading like weed.

originally posted by: pavil
a reply to: ElGoobero

How is the European crawfish native to Africa? It must have been an invasive species at one time. Probably slaughtered all the African Crawfish with their Imperialism. Typical.

Open Borders for all Invertebrates!

Just eat them.....

apparently there is no crawfish native to Africa. there is a European one.

thanks for the link Howtonhawky, was going to post info on that myself. mutant asexual species!!!

a reply to: pavil

"I'm lucky to get 2 inches of goodness here."

Where have I heard that one before....

In the Greats Lakes there is a problem with an invasive Rusty Crayfish. I like eating Crawdads, but since I don't know how to tell the difference between a native and a rusty, I haven't in a while. But yea, good eats.