Ep. 287 : Considering Crayfish

Crayfish have fascinated me all my life. My mother told me stories of finding bright blue crayfish in streams as she was growing up. I see them now everyday in the river I live and work alongside. Crayfish are plentiful and seem to be throughout the Great Lakes bioregion, but I still don’t know enough about them. I want to know more.

Summer is pretty much through, and Autumn is in the air. I can smell it. And really, it’s been a while since I have released a new show, but I have been thinking about this one for a good long time. I just keep getting hung up on the unanswered questions. I hope that just going through the motions, and ignoring the self doubt, might be enough to get back into the game.

Photo: Rusty Crayfish in Guelph By Ryan Hodnett - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97211151, edited for clarity and cropped.

To learn more :
Field Guide to Crayfishes in Canada (pdf)
Crow’s Path Natural History of Crayfish
Tracks and Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates by Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney. Stackpole Books, 2010.
A Guide To Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America by J. Reese Voshell, Jr. McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, 2002.
Crayfish Gastroliths, which I didn’t talk about but should have.