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What Personality is your Crayfish?

Many times I have blogged about some serious behavioral issues in our aquatic biota, stoned fish, and crayfish that are getting drunk because they are anxious.  Recently, I have been made aware that our aquatic critters may not have behavior issues as much as they have personality disorders:

Mighty 4-inch crayfish can be bold or shy

These revelations from research leave so many questions swirling in my head:  First, why did I do the boring research I did back when I was in school?  Secondly, who ever pondered what a crayfish was feeling?  Who knew the crayfish could tell us how they were feeling?

CrayCray

If you took the time to read the article in the link, you found that researchers were studying how pollutants, specifically atrazine, affected crayfish behavior.  By the way, you can find atrazine in pretty much every Nebraska creek or river.  I get that, but the real revelation was that crayfish have personalities!

Apparently, some crayfish aggressively use cheesy pickup lines, “Why don’t we molt into something a little more comfortable?”, “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?  Probably not because of your exoskeleton.”,  “Pinch me, you’re so fine I must be dreaming.”

While other crayfish are more shy; more likely to “hang out by the bar and put out the vibe.”

What does this mean to those of us who like to catch fish?  Perhaps to those of us who just like crayfish, especially as bait?

Well, you gotta get to know your crayfish!  You gotta take time to know their personality!  You want a crayfish that is not afraid to get out and mingle, but one that is not so aggressive as to scare off potential predators?  Choose your crayfish carefully!

If you end up with one of those obnoxious, aggressive, bully crayfish, well, do what you gotta do to mellow him out.  Get him drunk, stoned, give him a massage, or just soak him in atrazine!

Gotta go, got more research to do!

About daryl bauer

Daryl is a lifelong resident of Nebraska (except for a couple of years spent going to graduate school in South Dakota). He has been employed as a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for 25 years, and his current tour of duty is as the fisheries outreach program manager. Daryl loves to share his educational knowledge and is an avid multi-species angler. He holds more than 120 Nebraska Master Angler Awards for 14 different species and holds more than 30 In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards for eight different species. He loves to talk fishing and answer questions about fishing in Nebraska, be sure to check out his blog at outdoornebraska.org.

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