Pocomoke Shipbuilding • Vane Brothers - Chesapeake Bay ...

Cultured
Crawdads
By Jay Kilian
The blue crab is the most recognizable Chesapeake Bay
icon, and is undeniably Maryland’s most famous crustacean.
This renowned tidewater species is not, however, Maryland’s
only delectable decapod.
Another 10-legged, pincer-wielding invertebrate has
found its way into Maryland waters. It is large, it is red (prior
to steaming, no less), it tastes just as good smothered in Old
Bay as its blue crab cousin, and it is just as easily chased with
an ice-cold beer.
Despite its culinary appeal, the red swamp crayfish is a
non-native species that poses a significant threat to Maryland’s
stream ecosystems and has recently sparked considerable concern
among state biologists of the Maryland Department of
Natural Resources (MDNR). This species, one of many dozens
of non-natives causing or threatening trouble in the Bay
watershed, has been the subject of recent surveys conducted
by the MDNR, and is now known to be far
more widespread than once believed. It is
lurking in the fresh and brackish water
portions of many Maryland streams
and rivers.
The red swamp crayfish, a native
species of the lower Mississippi
The red swamp
crayfish is red, mean
and on the loose.
are Pincered Pests
River and Gulf Coast drainages of the southern U.S., is the
archetypical Louisiana Cajun crayfish. Due to its large size,
environmental hardiness, and low-maintenance disposition,
the red swamp crayfish is the most widely cultured crayfish
species in the world, having been cultured on every continent,
excluding Australia and Antarctica.
For as much economic benefit as this species has brought,
the ecological costs of rearing this species outside of its native
range have been immense. A form of “biological pollution,”
introductions of the red swamp crayfish have been linked to
declines in submerged aquatic vegetation, declines in amphibian
populations, changes in stream community composition,
and loss of native crayfishes.
This species has become a nuisance in many countries because
of its tenacious burrowing behavior; it has caused damage
to crops and reservoir dams despite efforts to control its
spread. The red swamp crayfish has also been blamed for the
spread of the crayfish plague, a North American fungus that
has been inadvertently introduced into Europe,
causing the near decimation of that continent’s
native crayfish.
So, how did it get here?
This non-native species was first stocked
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