August 22, 2017

American crayfish ‘invading’ Utrecht

Filed under: Animals by Orangemaster @ 8:11 pm

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In the Leidsche Rijn neighbourhood in the west of Utrecht, American crayfish are ‘invading’ people’s gardens and scaring people walking their dogs as they walk on land. We told you about these pesky Procambarus clarkii, aka Louisiana crayfish last year, creeping around The Green Heart part of the country.

The red beasts love the stagnant water found in the Leidsche Rijn neighbourhood and bury their eggs in the area.

The options for getting rid of them include eating them, but you will need a lot of them to make a meal. And then there’s folks who give them to family around the country once they’ve caught them, increasing the risk of spreading the crayfish around even more.

The Internet says you can also keep them as pets in a tank.

(Link: rtvutrecht.nl, Screenshot from Omroep West quoted in the posting).

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January 10, 2016

American crayfish, a nuisance and a delicacy

Filed under: Animals by Orangemaster @ 4:38 pm

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There’s a few different kinds of crayfish that can be found in The Netherlands, but the ‘invasive’ Procambarus clarkii, aka Louisiana crayfish, the one associated with Cajun cooking, has become a pest in De Groene Hart (The Green Hart) area.

The quick and muddy explanation is that those suckers dig and destroy, bully indigenous European crayfish and eat indigenous species of amphibians for starters. So why can’t my dream of having Cajun cuisine in this country come true? In recent years, fishers, chefs and food specialists have been trying to get people to turn these pests into food, but crayfish isn’t often on the menu here despite their abundance.

You’ll find crayfish in streams after rainfall and sometimes in people’s gardens. They have this famous aggressive look that says ‘back off or maybe it’s ‘halleluia’ with a southern American accent. The expert in this video (Dutch) will even tell you what the male genitalia looks like and everything.

It’s free food, people, let’s get some Cajun cooking going. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

(Links: www.waarmaarraar.nl, rivierkreeft.files.wordpress.com (PDF), Screenshot from the above-mentioned film from Omroep West).

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