Well, then the Germans could have it without having to have a WW over it again...
Posted on 12/26/2004 8:29:16 PM PST by bayourod
You'd think that a country that has elevated snails and frogs to a delicacy wouldn't have a problem with some good ol' crawfish.
Yet France is struggling, not in the kitchen but out in the wild: Beaucoup crawfish are killing frogs, destroying sensitive wetland plants and generally wreaking environmental havoc.
The prolific Louisiana Red Swamp crawfish, which can lay up to 750 eggs at one time and can reproduce nine months of the year, is thought to have escaped into wetland areas of France in 1976. It's been downhill from there.
"The Louisiana crawfish eats all the aquatic plants in the marsh," said Jean-Marc Thirion, scientific adviser to Nature Environnement 17, an environmental group based in Charente-Maritime, a department on France's central Atlantic coast. "Without the aquatic plants, the water of the marsh is opaque and the sunlight can't pass through," making it difficult for aquatic life to survive.
The Louisiana crawfish is disrupting breeding areas for frogs and other amphibians, he said, as well as having more subtle effects on other wildlife.
"When the Louisiana crawfish is present in the amphibian laying site — pool, pond or marsh — we have observed different mutilations of amphibians: cut skin, leg amputations," he said. "When the Louisiana crawfish population is established after a few years in the same site, we note the extinction of amphibian species."
Even more troubling and far-reaching is the insidious revenge the crawfish is taking on its predators.
For instance, Thirion said, one scientist has reported malformed young in gray heron that have begun to feed exclusively on the crawfish.
Scientists in Spain have reported that astaxanthin, the reddish-orange pigment in the shell and body that gives the Louisiana crawfish its name, is turning the skin of baby white storks an orange color that could be disturbing to their parents, raising concerns about nesting success.
The pigment also is causing slight differences in the coloring of the legs and beaks of adult storks, scientists say. The vibrant colors of birds are used to attract the opposite sex, and the scientists are concerned that the differences could be affecting their long-term reproduction.
According to Catherine Souty-Grosset, a biologist at the University of Poitiers and a founding member of Craynet, a network of European aquatic crawfish researchers, the Louisiana crawfish has become the most dangerous of a handful of invasive species because it is spreading so rapidly.
It has been found all along France's Atlantic coast and throughout the basin of the Loire River, and is expected to spread along another half-dozen rivers in a few years.
Souty-Grosset says several proposals for exterminating the invader have drawbacks.
Chemicals able to kill the tough crawfish harm other species. Mechanical removal is labor-intensive and too expensive, and while commercial fishing seems to be catching on in Charente-Maritime, she said, transporting live crawfish out of the department is prohibited.
To comply with the law, put in place to prevent the spread of invasive crawfish, "the ideal solution is the transformation on the spot of crawfish into preserved products," she said.
How ya'll are??????? Miss him even if he was from Mississippi
Cajuns' revenge.
What, no fava beans?
Moonshine if you can't afford beer.
May I have that recipe too, please?
There you have it. Scientific evidence that racism is genetic.
Post on thread so we will not ALL ask for a private reply. ;^) Thanks!
Tie a rope on a big ol catfish head, drag em up on the bank and net em.
I miss ol Justin.
Well, then the Germans could have it without having to have a WW over it again...
LOL-- except the crawdad displays its pincers as it withdraws while the French wave white flags in their retreat.
The Germans...the Islamic hordes...the Girlscouts...Jerry Lewis...the Crawdads...France is up for grabs!
Nutria, the juveniles are pot good; brown them and cook just like you would rabbits or squirrels on top of the stove-makes a good gravy.
Fire Ants; I forget who makes this stuff but it's called "Over and Out". You spread the granules over your yard with a broadcaster and the ants are gone for a season. I have a 3/4 acre lot and it takes me 3 bags at $20.00 a bag, but it is worth it. No ants and there is a pasture behind me full of replacement ants.
"The Louisiana crawfish is disrupting breeding areas for frogs and other amphibians"
The French just think they have a problem with the crawfish, send some of us over there and life as they know it (as sad as it is) is over.
Trust me, the term "pleasure" never entered into the picture.
I think the Algerians are already taking care of that for us.
"Louisiana is destroying France? Talk about Napoleon's Revenge!"
LOL No wonder they are always so pi$$ed at us!
But why do these same birds and amphibians seem to be okay in our waters? Maybe France should be reminded about evolution.
All day prep; not a bad undertaking though with 4 people, lots of beer and a good game on the tube. I rather cook it the next day though; the prep jades me for a same day meal.
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