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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 06 2018, @03:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the you-say-crayfish-I-say-crawfish dept.

No one knows exactly when the clones first appeared, but humans only became aware of them in the early 2000s.

It was a German aquarium owner who first brought it to scientists' attention. In 1995, he had acquired a bag of "Texas crayfish" from an American pet trader, only to find his tank inexplicably filling up with the creatures. They were all, it turns out, clones. Sometime, somewhere, the biological rule that making baby crayfish required a mama crayfish and papa crayfish was no longer inviolate. The eggs of the hobbyist's all-female crayfish did not need to be fertilized. They simply grew into copies of their "mother"—in a process known as parthenogenesis.

Crayfish specialists were astonished. No one had seen anything like it. But the proof was before their eyes and in 2003, scientists dubbed the creatures marbled crayfish, or Marmorkreb in German.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/attack-of-the-crayfish-clones/552236/


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by drussell on Tuesday February 06 2018, @05:10PM (1 child)

    by drussell (2678) on Tuesday February 06 2018, @05:10PM (#633945) Journal

    I think such a problem would resolve itself via disease.

    Given that are are all basically genetically identical, sounds like they can grow explosively but then crash hard and fast when the right bug targets them.

    Indeed! Of course! It's just a question of whether the genetically identical ones have already decimated the existing diverse population in a given area when they finally do eventually get wiped out.

    I believe Crayfish already are considered an invasive species in some areas.
    ...
    But on the other it will be crap for an invaded ecosystems. Crayfish are hardy, can travel travel overland to find new habitats and can/will eat just about anything. And now this species will be able to quickly crowd out the local species in only a few generations.

    I suppose that, on the other hand, it could be actually end up being a good thing in areas where crayfish in general have become invasive. The eventual die-off could end up reducing the total population to a more equitably balanced equilibrium in that area's ecosystem.

    Oh, nature... Will you ever cease to amaze?! :)

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Tuesday February 06 2018, @07:10PM

    by frojack (1554) on Tuesday February 06 2018, @07:10PM (#634037) Journal

    The eventual die-off

    There's no reason to expect an eventual die off in an aquarium, until owner gets tired of it, or dies.

    But a die off so complete as to kill off all the clones is just as likely to kill the entire population of females (and probably males).

    In short, only a narrowly avoided near extinction event would be better handled with genetic diversity. The normal seasonal events that crayfish suffer would probably be handled just fine by clones.

    Besides, we learned recently [soylentnews.org] that it is possible that Clones don't necessarily have ZERO diversity.

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.