Known to many culinary fans as the Louisiana crawfish, the red swamp crayfish is a menu staple in the southern United States and a popular export. Aquaculturists precipitated the crayfish\u2019s emigration from the North American Gulf Coast to rivers, marshes, and rice paddies in China, Portugal, Spain, and other far-flung parts of the world. It has generally been a strong competitor. The red swamp crayfish is territorial and aggressive, and, unlike many of its crayfish kin, not a vegetarian.<\/p>\n
When meeting a red swamp crayfish for the first time, Iberian waterfrog tadpoles from traditional pond communities with no history of invasion quickly learned to hold still. After 30 years of ancestral coexistence with the crayfish, P. perezi<\/i> tadpoles had bulked up and formed a habit of muted activity at all times.<\/p>\n
The arrival of the crayfish is driving rapid evolutionary change in these invaded ponds, wrote the authors, and this frog story may illustrate a more general effect of exotic predators on the new communities they enter.<\/p>\n
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Read more<\/a> about this story on Orizaola\u2019s blog.<\/p>\n Prolific traveler<\/strong>. The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii<\/em>) has journied from it\u2019s native lands on the North American Gulf Coast and Florida\u2019s panhandle to colonize warm fresh waters around the world \u2014 often at the expense of local crustaceans and amphibians. Credit, National Park Service<\/a><\/em>. Cropped for size.<\/p><\/div>\n![\"<strong>Prolific](\"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Red-Swamp-Crayfish-NPS-cropped-300x214.jpg\")
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