Astacus astacus | |
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Astacus astacus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Decapoda |
Suborder: | Pleocyemata |
Family: | Astacidae |
Genus: | Astacus |
Species: | A. astacus |
Binomial name | |
Astacus astacus | |
Subspecies [2] | |
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Synonyms [2] | |
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Astacus astacus, the European crayfish, noble crayfish, or broad-fingered crayfish, is the most common species of crayfish in Europe, and a traditional food source. Like other true crayfish, A. astacus is restricted to fresh water, living only in unpolluted streams, rivers, and lakes. It is found from France throughout Central Europe, to the Balkan Peninsula, and north as far as Scandinavia and Finland, and Eastern Europe. Males may grow up to 16 cm long, and females up to 12 cm. [3]
European crayfish feed on worms, aquatic insects, molluscs, and plants.
They are nocturnal, spending the day resting in a burrow. They prefer habitats with high levels of shelter availability. [1] The waters they are found in tend to be soft-bottomed with some sand, and they do not tend to be found in muddy water. [1]
A. astacus become sexually mature after three to four years and a series of moults, and breed in October and November. Fertilised eggs are carried by the female, attached to her pleopods, until the following May, when they hatch and disperse.
The main predators of A. astacus, both as juveniles and adults, are European mink, eels, perch, pike, Eurasian otters, and muskrats. [3] There is also some risk of predation via cannibalism. [1]
A. astacus is sensitive to dips in oxygen levels in the water it inhabits, which makes it particularly vulnerable to eutrophication. However, they are capable of tolerating lower calcium levels than most other species of crayfish. [1]
A. astacus is regarded as a keystone species in the environments it inhabits. Crayfish are an important part of the freshwater food web as they provide a source of food to many aquatic species and boost primary productivity by foraging on freshwater plants. The loss of crayfish in a freshwater environment is known to cause macrophyte growth, which can be a cause for eutrophication and an overall degradation in water quality. [5]
This species was once abundant in Europe, although it was expensive to buy, and is considered to be the finest edible crayfish. [3] It is, however, susceptible to the crayfish plague carried by the invasive North American species signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus), so is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List. [1] Since the introduction of the plague, A. astacus has dropped to about 5% of its preexisting population. [5]
Documentation of the consumption of A. astacus dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was popular among the Swedish nobility, spreading to all social classes by the 17th and 18th centuries due to its ready availability. The crayfish are collected from the wild in traps, a practice which is being replaced by more intensive aquaculture of the signal crayfish in man-made ponds. [6] The consumption of crayfish is an important part of traditional Nordic culture, including the crayfish party (Swedish : kräftskiva; Finnish : rapujuhlat), a feast to mark the end of summer. [6]
Hundreds of smaller or larger lakes were once found in the northern Moldavia, used for growing A. astacus meant for consumption during the extended fasting periods of the Orthodox Christian calendar. The area of the former Dorohoi County was one such area, and this legacy was visible in the county's historical coat of arms, featuring an A. astacus (Romanian : rac).
Astacins are a family of digestive enzymes, discovered in the 1990s, which were first isolated from A. astacus. More than 20 enzymes of this group have since been discovered in animals from Hydra to humans. [7]
Mälaren, historically referred to as Lake Malar in English, is the third-largest freshwater lake in Sweden. Its area is 1,140 km2 (440 sq mi) and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 km (74.6 mi) from east to west. The lake drains, from south-west to north-east, into the Baltic Sea through its natural outlets Norrström and Söderström and through the artificial Södertälje Canal and Hammarbyleden waterway. The easternmost bay of Mälaren, in central Stockholm, is called Riddarfjärden. The lake is located in Svealand and bounded by the provinces of Uppland, Södermanland and Västmanland. The two largest islands in Mälaren are Selaön and Svartsjölandet. Mälaren is low-lying and mostly relatively shallow.
Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some species are found in brooks and streams, where fresh water is running, while others thrive in swamps, ditches, and paddy fields. Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water, although some species, such as Procambarus clarkii, are hardier. Crayfish feed on animals and plants, either living or decomposing, and detritus.
Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of microorganisms that may deplete the water of oxygen. Eutrophication may occur naturally or as a result of human actions. Manmade, or cultural, eutrophication occurs when sewage, industrial wastewater, fertilizer runoff, and other nutrient sources are released into the environment. Such nutrient pollution usually causes algal blooms and bacterial growth, resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen in water and causing substantial environmental degradation.
Astacus is a genus of crayfish found in Europe, comprising three extant (living) species and three extinct fossil species.
Crayfish plague is a water mold that infects crayfish, most notably the European Astacus which dies within a few weeks of being infected. When experimentally tested, species from Australia, New Guinea and Japan were also found to be susceptible to the infection.
An aquatic animal is any animal, whether vertebrate or invertebrate, that lives in bodies of water for all or most of its lifetime. Aquatic animals generally conduct gas exchange in water by extracting dissolved oxygen via specialised respiratory organs called gills, through the skin or across enteral mucosae, although some are evolved from terrestrial ancestors that re-adapted to aquatic environments, in which case they actually use lungs to breathe air and are essentially holding their breath when living in water. Some species of gastropod mollusc, such as the eastern emerald sea slug, are even capable of kleptoplastic photosynthesis via endosymbiosis with ingested yellow-green algae.
The signal crayfish is a North American species of crayfish. It was introduced to Europe in the 1960s to supplement the North European Astacus astacus fisheries, which were being damaged by crayfish plague, but the imports turned out to be a carrier of that disease. The signal crayfish is now considered an invasive species across Europe, Japan, and California, ousting native species there.
Pontastacus leptodactylus, the Danube crayfish, Galician crayfish, Turkish crayfish or narrow-clawed crayfish, is a relatively large and economically important species of crayfish native to fresh and brackish waters in eastern Europe and western Asia, mainly in the Pontic–Caspian region, among others including the basins of the Black Sea, and the Danube, Dnieper, Don and Volga rivers, as well as aquatic systems in Turkey. It has spread widely beyond its native range, beginning in the 1700s when it spread via canals constructed in western Russia and since the 1900s through introducions to many regions for human consumption. Today it is widespread throughout much of Europe.
Periphyton is a complex mixture of algae, cyanobacteria, heterotrophic microbes, and detritus that is attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems. The related term Aufwuchs refers to the collection of small animals and plants that adhere to open surfaces in aquatic environments, such as parts of rooted plants.
Eğirdir is a lake in the Lakes Region of Turkey. The town of Eğirdir lies near its southern end, 107 kilometers north of Antalya. With an area of 482 square kilometres (186 sq mi) it is the fourth largest lake in Turkey, and the second largest freshwater lake.
The Murray crayfish, Euastacus armatus, is a species of freshwater crayfish endemic to Australia that belongs to the family Parastacidae. The Murray crayfish has the largest geographic range of any of the Euastacus crayfish in Australia, being found in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers as well as many of their tributaries. Murray crayfish are also known as "Murray River crayfish", "Murray crays", "freshwater crays", "spiny freshwater crays", "spinies" and in the Wagga Wagga region of southern New South Wales they are simply known as "lobsters".
Procambarus clarkii, known variously as the red swamp crayfish, Louisiana crawfish or mudbug, is a species of cambarid crayfish native to freshwater bodies of northern Mexico, and southern and southeastern United States, but also introduced elsewhere, where it is often an invasive pest.
Fluvidona anodonta or more commonly known as the North Pine River freshwater snail is a species of minute freshwater snail that is endemic to Australia. Originally discovered in 1892 by Hedley & Musson, the snail is highly elusive and only has been sighted four times since its discovery. The snail is 2 mm long and 1 mm wide with the shell colouring being of a yellow-whiteish shade. Fluvidona anodonta resides within the City of Moreton Bay, specifically in four river systems within the D'Aguilar National Park, Queensland. The four river systems are the South Pine River headwaters, the North Pine River headwaters, Kobble Creek and Low Branch Creek. The snail is found under deeply submerged rocks within permanent freshwater systems.
Astacoides is a genus of freshwater crayfish endemic to Madagascar. The first specimens were brought to Europe in 1839, and seven species are now recognised, most of which are considered as threatened on the IUCN Red List. They are large and slow-growing, and are threatened by habitat loss, overexploitation by local people and by spread of introduced non-indigenous marbled crayfish. They are only found in a relatively small part of the island, mostly in undisturbed upland areas. They belong to the Gondwana-distributed family Parastacidae, but their nearest relatives live in Australasia, there being no native crayfish in mainland Africa or India.
Austropotamobius torrentium, also called the stone crayfish, is a European species of freshwater crayfish in the family Astacidae. It is mostly found in tributaries of the Danube, having originated in the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula.
Faxonius limosus, synonym Orconectes limosus, is a species of crayfish in the family Cambaridae. It is native to the east coast of North America, from Quebec to the lower James River, Virginia, but has also been introduced to Europe. It is known commonly as the spinycheek crayfish or Kamberkrebs in German.
A wild fishery is a natural body of water with a sizeable free-ranging fish or other aquatic animal population that can be harvested for its commercial value. Wild fisheries can be marine (saltwater) or lacustrine/riverine (freshwater), and rely heavily on the carrying capacity of the local aquatic ecosystem.
Faxonius virilis is a species of crayfish known as the virile crayfish, northern crayfish,eastern crayfish, and lesser known as the lake crayfish or common crawfish. Faxonius virilis was reclassified in August 2017, and the genus was changed from Orconectes to Faxonius. It is native to the central United States, east to tributaries of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River in New York and to much of Canada.
Ammonia pollution is pollution by the chemical ammonia (NH3) – a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen which is a byproduct of agriculture and industry. Common forms include air pollution by the ammonia gas emitted by rotting agricultural slurry and fertilizer factories while natural sources include the burning coal mines of Jharia, the caustic Lake Natron and the guano of seabird colonies. Gaseous ammonia reacts with other pollutants in the air to form fine particles of ammonium salts, which affect human breathing. Ammonia gas can also affect the chemistry of the soil on which it settles and will, for example, degrade the conditions required by the sphagnum moss and heathers of peatland.
Austropotamobius bihariensis is a species of crayfish in the family Astacidae. It is known to exist only in Romania being restricted to the rivers in the western Apuseni Mountains. Its proposed English common name is idle crayfish. It is supposed to have diverged/split ~15 Ma old from a common relative of A. torrentium from the Dinarides and evolved isolated due to the historically tectonic north-eastern movement of Tisza-Dacia mega-unit through the Pannonian Basin, during the Miocene. The molecular divergence in 582 base length nucleotides of COI mtDNA sequences is supported by 43 mutational steps, a differentiation of 7.4% from the sister clade of A. torrentium located in north-western Dinarides