No Males Needed
Self Cloning Mutant Marbled Crawfish
I used to catch crayfish, crawfish or craw-daddies when I was a child growing up in Oregon. The crawfish we caught to eat are native to the Pacific Northwest. The species "Pacifastacus leniusculus," colors can go from brown, red, to bright orange.
As a child I would wade through our glacial streams, cold enough to make my feet go numb looking for bright orange crayfish hiding under rocks.
The crawfish I grew up with could only reproduce via the old fashioned way. This new species can reproduce asexually and they reproduce very quickly out producing native populations. The marbled crawfish are also hard on the environment, eating everything in sight and leaving a mess behind.
Mapping The Mutants Genome
A new study through the Illinois State University, professor Wolfgang Stein, a neurophysiologist who is part of a group of researchers that have sequenced the crayfishes unique genetic makeup. The genomes of this species don’t vary from one individual to the next. The species is made up of only females. This saves a lot of time, no need to find a partner and the species is reproducing at fantastical rates, overwhelming stable ecosystems they invade.
No Mating Rituals Needed!
The mutant species is only 30 years old and has spread around the world from just one female. You can find them in Japan, Madagascar, North America, and Europe.
The Traditional Parents
The original species the Marbled crayfish came from is called the Slough crayfish that originate from the southern part of America, Georgia and Florida. In the pet trade a mated pair produced offspring and one female instead of having two sets of chromosomes ended up with three. Amazing, everything worked!
Stupid Compassion
Through the pet trade one of these female marbled crayfish ended up in Germany and traded throughout the world. That’s why you never do the compassionate thing many Buddhist do, which is turn loose pet store flora and fauna. Bad things can happen with foolish compassion, like destroy ecosystems introducing non-native or mutated species.
Unknown-Unknowns
I keep thinking of Genetically modified plants and animals writing this article. You an see in real time what happens when introducing mutations into stable ecosystems. There is a genetically modified fish that has several different species of fish spliced into it’s genome….scary--"Genetically Modified Foods
I also keep thinking about Jurassic park. No worries boss, the dinosaurs can’t reproduce, boy were they wrong!
No Baby Daddy Needed!
Just one asexual female gets loose and 3 or 4 months later you can have over 300 offspring. All the offspring are females and reproducing as well. Boy that’s a lot of protein for starving populations! However that’s not what is happening, people aren’t eating the crayfish, but the crayfish are eating everything around them.
Clonal genome evolution and rapid invasive spread of the marbled crayfish
