Crayfish

[RandyRFJP]

Orland Grassland; Cook County, IL Forest Preserve District

This female crayfish was walking down a divided, paved bicycle/jogging path in Orland Grassland. Unfortunately, I do not know which species of crayfish she is, but she does not appear to be the invasive rusty crayfish species because she lacks the black bands, characteristic of that species, near the tips of her large claws. In Photo 1 note the eggs she's carrying on the underside of her abdomen ("tail"). I followed her for about 30 ft until she turned and went into the prairie grass. Orland Grassland has many wet, swampy areas, and she seemed to know exactly where she wanted to go.

Photo 1:



Photo 2:



Photo 3:



C&C is welcomed.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Ziggy]

Looks like a good sized crayfish.

[bnnrcn]

Nice set Randy

[Wavelength]

WOW, really great; now we know how these H'wood know how design aliens in their movies

[chauncey]

As kids, we used to capture them, cut off their tails and use it for bluegill bait.

[Dave Humphries]

Fascinating series Randy - and not an easy subject to expose for either.

Well done, Dave

[terrib]

She looks quite put out with you in the last photo. Good job on these. I've been around these all my life but have never tried to photograph one.

[RandyRFJP]

Thank you, John. It was an unexpected, but pleasant, surprise to encounter her walking down the paved pathway.

[RandyRFJP]

I, too, think it was an above average-sized crayfish, John. It was bigger than I remember them being when I encountered them while fishing as a child.

[RandyRFJP]

Thanks, Binnur. I'm glad you enjoyed viewing the images.

[RandyRFJP]

WOW, really great; now we know how these H'wood know how design aliens in their movies

Thanks, Nandakumar. I routinely fieel that the living world around us, often unnoticed by many, appears stranger than what most creative persons can even imagine. Yet, those "strange" creatures have adapted those characteristics to survive and, for many species, thrive within their ecological niche. I was happy to see her turn and enter the prairie grass, for I feared she would either be trampled by joggers, run-over by a bicyclist, or become an early morning snack for a bird of prey if she remained on the paved pathway.

[RandyRFJP]

As kids, we used to capture them, cut off their tails and use it for bluegill bait.

Years ago, I and a friend would buy six soft-shell crayfish (i.e., those undergoing a shedding of their hard, upper shell due to growth) from a local bait shop. We'd use small portions of the crayfish's white-colored muscle as bait to catch perch in Lake Michigan near Chicago's Adler Planetarium. We'd fish from a canoe he owned, stayed well within the breakwater, and usually caught a fair number of perch. We stopped fishing in Lake Michigan when, while cleaning the fish we caught, we both independently noticed small, black,wiggling parasites in the muscles of many of the perch we caught.

[RandyRFJP]

Thank you, Dave, for the kind comment.

[RandyRFJP]

She looks quite put out with you in the last photo. Good job on these. I've been around these all my life but have never tried to photograph one.

I agree with you,Terri. I also think she was getting tired of being photographed. It was the first time I photographed a crayfish. I'm glad you enjoyed viewing the photos.