Endless Summer
3:40 pm / March 19, 2012
American Crayfish Have Massive Appetites, Are Wiping Out Their British Brethren photo
The American signal crayfish
Credit: David Perez/Wikimedia Commons

American Crayfish Have Massive Appetites, Are Wiping Out Their British Brethren

Americans know crayfish (or crawfish, or crawdads, depending on what part of the country you’re in) as those mini river lobsters perfect for boiling in giant stock pots, peeling, and eating with a cold brew in the summertime. Inspired by our ways, enterprising Brits tried to introduce commercial crawdad farming to the UK in the ’70s. They determined that the Pacific Northwest’s signal crayfish was the best candidate for thriving in England’s climate, and imported a bundle or ten.

Unfortunately, not only did the crayfish disagree with the British palate, but also the signal crayfish soon escaped into British waterways. Now, our boys have almost killed off all of Britain’s native white-clawed crayfish, and a recent study has figured out why. In short, the American crayfish 1) carry a plague and 2) eat way more than their British cousins. Perhaps predictably, the American critter was found to eat up to 83 percent more per day than the native species–plus, it didn’t care what kind of food it was eating. Oh, stereotypes.

This isn’t the first time that traditional American foodstuffs have become invasive species in the UK. The American gray squirrel has been slowly destroying the much cuter British red squirrel for decades, winning out thanks to size and, like the crayfish, a looser appetite. British politicians and public figures rallied around the squirrels a few years back, asking for a campaign of “cranial crushing” whenever any proud British citizen encountered an American gray, but it’s unlikely the crayfish will get a similar rallying cry.

[University of Leeds, NYT]


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