Posted on 06/12/2022 6:17:55 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Over the last few decades, the planet has been at the mercy of a ten-legged, many-clawed crustacean ravenously creating a clone army bent on world domination. No, it isn’t an interplanetary interloper or the result of an uncontained government experiment. This is biology gone wrong, or if you happen to be a marbled crayfish, biology gone horribly right.
What’s unusual is that instead of the expected two copies of their chromosomes, marbled crayfish have three. Their genetic composition is similar to the Slough crayfish, a close relative, leading scientists to conclude that the first marbled crayfish was born through an unusual reproductive happenstance when two Slough crayfish mated.
What’s more, it appears that the Slough parents hail from different parts of the world, making it unlikely that they met in the wild. Instead, it’s believed they might have been dropped in the same aquarium tank and met in captivity where they would later give birth to their unusual progeny.
It’s a worthwhile strategy. Once they find their way into an ecosystem, there’s likely no stopping them. A single individual can lay 700 eggs, all copies of itself, and they can survive drought conditions by burrowing into the ground and migrate over land. All the while, they outcompete and reduce the numbers of endemic species.
(Excerpt) Read more at syfy.com ...
That was my first thought: food.
More crawfish is not a bad thing. 😉
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.