Our host was JianQing Ding, an expert in biological control of invasive plants at the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. We made a preliminary research trip to central China in the summer of 2008, during which we were able to experience local crayfish culture first hand. With the encouragement of our advisor, David Lodge, we became interested in the status of the Louisiana crayfish in China. Yet, the overall costs and benefits of crayfish introduction in China remain largely undocumented.Ĭrayfish: the good, the bad and the financial Crayfish have also been suggested as a possible biocontrol agent for the snail vector of the human disease, schistosomiasis. However, as an exotic invader, crayfish also threaten native Chinese fishes and feed on several important local plants including rice and lotus crops. As they do in Louisiana, crayfish in China have considerable economic value as a food source. The Louisiana Crayfish, xiao long xia (literally "small dragon shrimp" in Mandarin), has been present in China since 1940. However, as we found out through our National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) research, Louisiana crayfish should also invoke imagery of rice paddies in China.Īlthough native to the United States, the Louisiana crayfish has been introduced for aquaculture in countries around the world including Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France, Kenya and Uganda, among others. This surely comes from the fact that one of the most famous crayfishes, the Louisiana crayfish Procambarus clarkia, is a staple in Cajun cuisine. They go by various names-crawfish, crayfish, crawdads, mudbugs-but one thing is common to all discussions of the lobster-like freshwater crustacean: they invoke imagery of the Louisiana bayous.
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