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Post by BuckSkin on Dec 19, 2021 0:54:03 GMT
It had rained heavily for two days and nights and had just slacked off for a few minutes. I started toward the mailbox when I saw this monster Big Blue Crawdaddy starting across the road toward me. I rushed back inside for a camera; and, when I returned, he was about halfway across. The photos do not do him justice. He was bright blue and the orange was neon and iridescent. From tail to nosetip, he was better than four inches. He was ready to do battle with those huge pinchers. I have seen much larger, but he was plenty big enough. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfishwww.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/523495Saturday_18-December-2021 12:24:24:CST        |
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Post by pontiac1940 on Dec 19, 2021 1:02:32 GMT
WOW~!! That is a very neat critter.
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Post by blackmutt on Dec 19, 2021 1:05:49 GMT
very cool!
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Post by hmca on Dec 19, 2021 1:43:45 GMT
Wow....you certainly captured him from every angle! Great series.
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Post by BuckSkin on Dec 19, 2021 1:55:26 GMT
Surprisingly, on top of ridges where one would think it would be dry, we have a lot of swamp ground that has a thin hardpan of white fossil- and seashell-filled rock about two feet down that will not allow the ground to drain.
I cured mine when I routed water and electric lines and dug through and below the hardpan with a backhoe; once I busted that layer, I could actually see the water leaving and the ground drying.
In our area, we have a plentiful supply of these Big Blue Crawdaddys.
They will dig big holes and pile the dirt up in tall "chimneys" around the hole.
Instead of calling the swamps "swamps" , the locals call it "Crawdaddy Ground".
You can lose a tractor, combine, or bulldozer; everything will be fine and then the earth will just fall from under you where these Crawdaddys have hollowed out beneath the top layer.
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Post by BuckSkin on Dec 19, 2021 2:00:30 GMT
Wow....you certainly captured him from every angle! Great series. Thanks. I would have liked to have got some detailed closeups; however, I decided against using my macro gear as he was quick and wasn't going to stand for no foolishness. If I had of got down in his face with a camera, he might have latched onto my lip, nose, or eyebrow and I might have caught some sort of swamp fungus or Typhoid and never fully recovered. |
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Post by hmca on Dec 19, 2021 2:04:52 GMT
So I have to ask....do people eat them? I have seen crawfish on menus in restaurants.
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Post by BuckSkin on Dec 19, 2021 4:11:51 GMT
So I have to ask....do people eat them? I have seen crawfish on menus in restaurants. I don't know if anyone eats these big nasty blue ones that mostly live in swamps and mudholes; they do, however, eat the smaller brown ones that are found in creeks and streams. I have not knowingly eaten any myself, but I know guys who would walk barefooted on hot blacktop from here to Murfreesboro for a mess of boiled Crawdaddys. We often haul livestock into and through Louisiana; and, every other front yard has a little hut with a kettle and fire and a big sign "Boiled Crayfish" ; some of the guys I run with can't pass up the temptation and will stop and buy a bucketful; that's the way they sell them --- by the bucketful. |
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Post by jackscrap on Dec 19, 2021 20:52:22 GMT
What a colourful looking specimen! Love how you really got into his space, those claws look like they could really do some damage. Very similar to yabbies, which I once kept in an aquarium along with some goldfish, unfortunately the goldfish didn’t last very long...
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Post by pontiac1940 on Dec 19, 2021 22:04:04 GMT
unfortunately the goldfish didn’t last very long...  |
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Post by Andy on Dec 19, 2021 22:09:40 GMT
Thanks for sharing both the photos and the information BuckSkin - I never knew anything about them and hadn't seen one before. |
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Post by cats4jan on Dec 19, 2021 23:47:16 GMT
Most amazing photos - beautifully done. TFS
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Post by BuckSkin on Dec 20, 2021 4:09:21 GMT
Thanks for sharing both the photos and the information BuckSkin - I never knew anything about them and hadn't seen one before. About twenty-five years ago, one foggy night, I pulled into the parking lot of a truck stop somewhere West of St. Louis; when I stepped down to the ground, I almost stepped on the biggest Crawdad I have ever seen; that thing was big as a Possum. He may have been a normal Crawdad by Missouri standards, but he sure looked like a monster to me. By never seeing one before, were you meaning only the big blue Crawdads, or Crawdads in general ? Our creeks around here have always been absolutely loaded with them. When in water, they don't move forwards as you would expect, but propel themselves backwards; they can dart backwards a surprising distance in one move. |
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