Giant crayfish found in Tennessee is new species

[Mugen]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A new species of giant crayfish literally crawled out from under a rock in Tennessee, proving that large new species of animals can be found in highly populated and well-explored places, researchers said on Wednesday.

The new crayfish should not have been easily overlooked, as it is huge -- twice the size of other species, the team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Eastern Kentucky University said.

But the crustacean is also quite rare, they report in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.

"This isn't a crayfish that someone would have picked up and just said, 'Oh, it's another crayfish,' and put it back," said University of Illinois aquatic biologist Chris Taylor, one of the researchers.

"You would have recognized it as something really, really different and you would have saved it," Taylor added in a statement.

Taylor and Guenter Schuster of Eastern Kentucky University found their first specimen of the new species under one of the biggest rocks in the deepest part of a commonly explored Tennessee creek.

The new species, called Barbicambarus simmonsi, is about 5 inches (12 cm) long and has antennae covered with a sensitive fringe of tiny, hair-like bristles, called setae.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_crayfish_giant

Farm 'em, boil 'em, and let's all enjoy 'em. Yuppie!

 

[Skyesrocket]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A new species of giant crayfish literally crawled out from under a rock in Tennessee, proving that large new species of animals can be found in highly populated and well-explored places, researchers said on Wednesday.

That is very cool.​

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

That is indeed really neat. When I lived in Montana we had huge crayfish too, sometimes larger than discribed in the link. I don't know if they were unusual, but to me they were just crayfish. When I saw the LA crayfish on the foodnetwork I thought "wow they should let them get bigger before eating" because the big greenish crays were the one's I was used to seeing. I had no idea there were so many different species.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I saw one of those here in KY last summer, I thought it was a freaking crab! It's claws were at least 2 1/2" long. My son and I were in a culvert that goes under the road (looking for little crawdads...he likes to catch them

) when I saw that monster! We went on through the culvert to check out another mud hole and when we came back the monster-sized crawdad was gone. Didn't know it was something special though

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Huh...we used to find those quite often when we went saining for crayfish to go fishing with! We always threw the bigger ones back

I know where there are several of those "big daddies" we called them because we called the regular sized ones crawdads. They've been around here for years. I didn't know they were a different specie though. That's good to know

I've never eaten them either, though I know some do. Giant mudbugs=new specie....who'd a thunk it?

 

[Carolyn]

Thanks for posting this. I read it this morning and shared per email with some family members. My boys used to love catching crawdads when they were kids. 5 inches is a big fellow sure enough!!!!

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Sounds like a celebration is in order.... mudbug boil anyone?

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Very cool indeed! Discoveries of new species are exciting and interesting. What an awesome species of crawdad!

 

[pookiegoldman]

We need some o' them down here! I'll take about 5 pounds boiled with corn and potatoes on the side please...

 

[Hog Dog]

A new species of crayfish in my neck of the woods. The next time I am out fishing in the creek I will have to look for one of these large crayfish .