18 January 2022

Marmorkrebs in Canada?

Crayfish
Premek Hamr drew attention to this record on iN today: a potential Marmorkrebs sighting in City View Park, Burlington, Ontario.

 

Guenter Schuster suspects that it might be Procambarus, but keying out to species from these pictures is effectively impossible.

 

That said, local park in an urban environment has been almost exactly the most common pattern we have seen in other locations: someone with an aquarium dumps some unwanted animals into a local park.

 

This was last October – mere months before Ontario banned Marmorkrebs at the start of 2022. Although Marmorkrebs have done well in some northern locations, it’s hard to tell if they could overwinter in Canada.

 

Has our luck finally run out? Is this the thin end of the wedge that will be the start of many more invasions of North America?

 

External links

 

Marbled crayfish on iNaturalist

 

https://twitter.com/DrCrayfish/status/1483449536873996291

 

https://twitter.com/crayfishguenter/status/1483465069560270848 


 

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