Escaped Mutant Crayfish Invade Belgian Cemetery
MUTANT CRAYFISH – An experimental self-cloning crayfish escaped the labs and began to invade a Belgian Cemetery.
Obviously, an invasive species that could self-duplicate poses a major threat to local biodiversity. Currently, the crustaceans have occupied the historic Antwerp cemetery. However, Kevin Scheers, of the Flemish Institute for Nature and Woodland Research said it would be impossible to find all of them.
These crayfish were called the “Marbled crayfish”. But, these types of crustaceans are not found in nature. Instead, they are found in labs were scientists experiment on cancer treatments.
According to an article from the NZ Herald, these crustaceans were about 10cm and are incredibly voracious. Furthermore, it was thought that the Marbled crayfish were bred by German pet traders during the 1990s.
They hold similarities to the slough crayfish found in Florida with the exception of being parthenogenic. This meant that the Marbled crayfish can self reproduce by themselves.
As such, the offspring of this parthenogenic process would be genetically identical females. As per the article, the mutation occurred around 25 years ago.
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In 2018, scientists found that the global marbled crayfish population was from a single female as it didn’t need males to reproduce. Along with this, the EU banned the possession and release of these crayfish in 2014. However, it is impossible to track down the owners since all crayfish are exactly the same.
Among the reasons for the spread of the marbled crayfish was the illegal pet trade. Families would often get overwhelmed by the quickly rising crayfish population at home. As such, they would release some in a nearby canal.
However, due to laws, authorities are not allowed to use poison as a means of exterminating the crawfish infestation.