This 'n That Thursdays: Invasion of the Female Mutant Marbled Crayfish

Marbled crayfish or Marmorkrebs (from Providr)

I know my post title sounds like that of an old 1950s science fiction movie, but this story is all fact, not fiction!  The marbled crayfish or Marmorkrebs (Procambarus fallax forma virginalis) is a mutation of an obscure American crayfish species called the slough crayfish (Procambarus fallax) found in a limited area of Georgia and Florida.  It became very popular as an aquarium pet in Germany, either before or after it somehow mutated into the new and distinct parthenogenic (self-cloning) form in the mid-1990s.  While still informally classified as a variation of the slough crayfish, a recent study concluded that it meets the criteria for classification as a new species.

All of these mutated crayfish are female, and they are extremely prolific, reproducing and multiplying at a rapid rate.  And unfortunately, the marbled crayfish escaped captivity and proved to be quite adept at exploiting new habitats.  In addition to Germany, this newcomer has been reported in the wild in several other European nations, Japan, and especially Madagascar, where it is widespread and threatening to drive the native crayfish species to extinction.

From The New York Times

So don't let the peaceful-looking crustacean above fool you - there is a high probability that this new species could wreak havoc on global aquatic ecosystems in the near future.  However, I doubt that we will have to deal with any situation similar to the one shown in this poster of an aborted SyFy Channel movie effort:

From Dread Central

For some odd reason, this SyFy Channel idea for a giant crawdad movie never came to fruition.  How could that be - perhaps because they were focusing on the wrong gender?  Maybe the network will reconsider now that Marmorkrebs has reared her marbled head, or should I say claw, to the world!