A Big Australian Crayfish, Pretty and Endangered

The large Murray crayfish, usually about a foot in length, has been observed to have had a 91 percent drop in its numbers in parts of a stream called the Goobarragandra habitats over about six years. This crayfish is a pretty beautiful creature, wielding bright white claws and a shell with blues, greens and hints of red, depending on the light. This crayfish lives in Australian rivers like the Murray and in small mountain streams, and this is where researchers from Australian National University in Canberra investigated how it fared in different habitats in the streams. The crayfish is extremely vulnerable to changes in habitat, and it was found that there was a 91 percent drop in its numbers in parts of a stream called the Goobarragandra habitats over about six years, observed by Mae M. Noble and Christopher J. Fulton. The stream itself had taken a beating, with  scouring of its bed during floods and loss of trees and shrubs on the banks from land clearing. Also, it accumulated sediment, and many of the small spaces between boulders where the crayfish live had been filled in. However, these crayfish did much better in a similar stream in a national park where land clearing had not occurred and habitat loss was less. These crustaceans, though, are not extremely well suited to live very long, considering it takes eight or 10 years for them to reach reproductive age, yet they still manage to live up to around thirty years of age.

Although these crayfish may not be extremely popular, they are still very important crustaceans, and another extinct species is not a joke. These Murray Crayfish are also endangered because of overfishing, which is another great issue in the world today. There is much controversy over the hunting of animals that are vulnerable to endangeredness and extinction, and this issue with the Murray Crayfish fits right into that. It was said in the article, though, by Dr. Fulton, that the good news was that “there were still places in the damaged stream where the crayfish survived in good numbers and where the banks could be replanted and the kind of rocky habitat the crustaceans like could be rebuilt.” The scientists reported their findings in the online version of Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. Ultimately, an extinct species is an extinct species, and really shouldn’t benefit the world with its ceasing to exist, so the endangeredness of these Murray Crayfish is a pretty important issue.

I felt this article had many strengths. I thought that the writer, James Gorman, did a great job giving background information about these crayfish and the important characteristics it had that made it unique. Although the article had some strengths, there were also many weaknesses that could be addressed. For example, this article, although very interesting, was very short. I thought it was a very interesting topic so I chose this article, but I found myself having to do a lot of background research on these Murray Crayfish because of the simple lack of more information by the author. Gorman gave good general information about the Murray Crayfish, but I felt this article lacked more detailed information about the crayfish. This article could be improved by Gorman if he decided to include more detailed information about the crayfish, like maybe a more detailed description of their habitats and their lifestyles.

Gorman, James. "A Big Australian Crayfish, Pretty and Endangered." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/11/science/a-big-australian-crayfish-pretty-and-endangered.html?action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront>.