![]() They’re the bully on the playground and the obnoxious party guest that won’t go home, all rolled into one hard-shelled, pincer-waving package. Short and sweet, rusty crayfish are thugs. How could a species “Made in America” be a problem just a few hundred miles from its native range?” Now you might be inclined to think, “Gee, Ohio isn’t that far away. Subsequent accidental releases combined with the species’ own aggressive tendencies have led to robust rusty crayfish populations in waterways throughout northern Illinois. rusticus, which normally lives in the Ohio River watershed, first appeared in Illinois in 1973 when unknown anglers emptied their bait buckets into Peoria Lake on the Illinois River. Marked with a reddish, or “rusty” spot of pigment on either side of the carapace, the little devils were easy to identify yet it was hard to accept that they were the only species I could find. in length I also felt several big rusties whose claws alone were that long. Plucking them from the net and placing them in a streamside dishpan, I felt a little rusty, which measured around 1 1/2 in. Charles and, armed with my trusty dipnet, flushed rusty after rusty from beneath various rocks and logs. These feisty invertebrates, nonnative and invasive, are dominating our local waterways.Ĭase in point: A couple weeks ago I waded into Ferson Creek in St. Specifically, rusty crayfish, or Orconectes rusticus. Nope, the biggest reason I’ve been feeling rusty these days is…Ĭrayfish. But I’m not too worried about those details with a little repetition they’ll be second nature in no time. And I’m working on some of the finer points, like remembering to swap shorts and flip-flops for actual pants and shoes. Some skills, like projecting my voice, have come back nicely. The downside is that I’m a little out of practice when it comes to speaking on site, to real, live audiences. The upside of that style of presentation is that there’s no travel time and very little setup I’d just power up my laptop and off we’d go. ![]() ![]() Rather than delivering outreach programs in person, I’ve been presenting online for close to a year. It’s true, some of that rusty feeling might be an after-effect of our recent pandemic. In fact, I’d wager that I’ve felt a little rusty just about every day over these past few weeks worse, I don’t see the trend stopping, not next week or even next month. Good Natured: Rusty Crayfish June 18, 2021ĭid you ever have one of those days where you’ve found yourself feeling a little, well, rusty? No other crayfish species has these distinctive marks. Rusty crayfish can be identified by two dark, rusty-red spots, one on either side of the carapace. ![]()
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