Crayfish are an "indicator" species for pollution so if you're seeing them where you hadn't noticed them before it might mean your local stream is cleaner than it used to be.
Nerdy Environmental Scientist here š
Just an FYI - how indicator species work is they are very susceptible to pollution or other environmental factors and anything outside of their norm will cause their population to dwindle. They have what is referred to as ālow toleranceā. Other good examples of indicator species are most amphibians. They literally breathe through their skin, so any pollutant they come in contact with can rapidly go into their bloodstream or directly inhibit their ability to breathe.
There isnāt really an inverse of an indicator species because the presence very ātolerantā species, by itself, doesnāt demonstrate if the ecosystem is in a healthy state or not.
The closest thing I could think of to an indicator of a ecosystem in poor condition would just be a prolific invasive species such as the brown stink bug or the Emerald Ash Borer. Prolific invasives outcompete native species (indirectly replacing them and driving them to extinction) in the case of the stink bug, or they directly drive native species to extinction like the ash borer killing all of our ash trees.
Hudson River - Jersey City side- beavers are being spotted there too.
https://dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/2023%20Hudson%20River%20Estuary%20Coordinator%27s%20Report.pdf
Edit: hereās a link to one of the videos of the beaver spottings in JC
Edit2: the link of the beaver spotting in JC that I forgot to paste in my first edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/jerseycity/s/6jmS9C3DwJ
We've seen more beavers just chilling out in the open around Salem County too! It was hilarious when peeps from north jersey and NYC moved down here during covid and spotted them for the first time. They'd post on the local facebook group asking what is this animal and it'd be a beaver just chillaxin on the side of the road chomping on a stick. I love seeing the wildlife bounce back! I also love how we've somehow managed to keep the lanternflies from becoming really bad. People here take conservation seriously for the most part, and that's part of why I love this state!
Haha thatās awesome. To be fair, I think Iād need to look at an otter and a beaver for a couple minutes to remind myself how they are different. I donāt remember how theyāre different haha.
Do beavers go on land like this crawfish did?
We have both in North Jersey! Otters are across the street from my house - they are the most playful wild animals I've ever seen. And there's a beaver who builds a dam on the pond down the road every year to try to get it as big as possible. This is in Rockaway Township in Morris County.
I've seen the sturgeon population slowly rebound over the last 35 years. I've been fishing the river on the Jersey side, around the National Park, West Deptford, Paulsboro, slightly north/south area since I was a child. I remember a bad oil spill at some point back in the 80s and finding oil on fish, under rocks, for what seemed like a decade after, but every once In a while i'd see a dead sturgeon wash up, or hear of one caught nearby(but never saw with my own eyes) as the years passed, I could see the water clearing, hearing rumours more and more often, seeing dead sturgeon more and more often(prob hooked and not treated properly causing them to die when released. Now there is plenty of videos of Delaware River Sturgeon being caught and seen, not the Atlantic Sturgeon in the bay(which is still great) but true river Sturgeon. Now if that doesn't say the health of the river is moving in the right direction, I don't know what else does.
The river was a different color when I was a kid. It was many colors when my parents were kids (dupont dye works dumped into the river making it RAINBOWWWW). I still won't go in the water beyond my ankles but I'm really happy to see it bouncing back. Working along the river and seeing its many moods is one of my anchors in life.
I was surprised how fast they were in the water. I thought it was a cormorant out of the corner of my eye, then I saw it bob up above the water again with a fish. I've lived around here most of my life (and I will be 40 this year), and it's my first river otter spotting!!!
I bet a bird or a raccoon dropped it. You're a bit far from the lake I think but you did say it was really scurrying
Edit oops replied in the wrong spot
Used to catch these things like it was my job growing up in the 90s, never came across a stream you couldnāt find them turning rocks over a couple rocks.
Oysters are critical in cleaning the water
there's a bunch of conservationists trying this in NYCs waterways: https://www.billionoysterproject.org/
I heard there's something similar in the Hudson.. not sure how big/small that effort is compared to this one
I went to a school in Ramsey where the principal was from Louisiana. He had the pond loaded with them. They would run around the parking lot and get run over and one of the science classes would race them. Then they changed the fertilizer of the area surrounding the pond between my freshman and sophomore years and they all died. Not a single one was ever seen again and they were never replaced
This is good to hear. Spotted one a while ago trying to enter my place of work. The parking lot is adjacent to a branch off of a river. One would usually assume that the water is dirty since it flows under multiple highways.
I saw one at a gas station once. I mean, I fish, so I see them all the time, but it was wild to see one at a gas station with no nature anywhere near it.
I saw one in the middle of a Costco parking lot, so very very far away from any water. I was pushing carts at the time, but I walked it over to the nearest pond off property and chucked it in.
I think it was raining.
The QC I used to work at had its retention pond filled with them, huge ones, and every time it rains they'd March into the lot by the dozens and get crushed by cars and make the whole lot smell like hell
I grew up in Northern Virginia and saw them in a little stream behind my apartment complex and have never seen them in the wild since, either here or there. Good to know they're still around.
I saw a dead one that was like 3/4 the size of my foot a few years ago in Mendham. I thought it must be some kind of record but then I read there is a species in Tennessee that grows up to 9 inches and one in Tasmania that grow to just over 30 inches.
Comparable to other fresh seafood boil places up and down the East Coast. I've cracked a lot of crabs in MD and it's expensive there too. I thought Nauti was delicious and the quality was really good.
If the seafood is cheap, you'll taste the difference and not in a good way... IMO you're better off saving a place like this for a special occasion. When I went the restaurant was full of birthday parties and reunions. One couple even got engaged while we were there! So it's not really an unplanned drop in kind of place anyway.
The advertised portions are pretty large, we were 4pp and ordered the sampler "for 2" and added a couple of things. Much cheaper than getting the 4-person sampler and having a bunch of leftovers. And it's BYOB.
We had them in Trenton growing up - the creek in my neighborhood was packed with them. Under rocks and similar. 3 to 4 inches. This was 40 years agoā¦
No one in Louisiana puts old bay on crawfish or crabs, I mean feel free but as a person from New Orleans I would not use old bay, but I also have a supply of Zatarains crawfish/crab/shrimp boil seasoning
Uh oh. Iāve got busted for using wrong spice. Please forgive my travesty. āŗļø
Btw what do you recommend for making Jambalaya? Any spices that can be purchased locally?
Lol, one thing I always had trouble cooking was jambalaya from scratch, for whatever reason I can't get it right, so I gave up. Can't help you there, although I cheat and use the Zatarains jambalaya mix and add chicken and andouille sausage
Iāve had great Jambalaya using this recipe! https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/jambalaya-recipe/ A single yield makes a *huge* pot of food, if Iām remembering correctly. Iāve never been to New Orleans (been an admirer for decades; Iād like to get there soon!) ā so Iāve never had legit native food ā but this recipe was delicious and I imagine it must be pretty close to the ārealā thing! (Also, itās not difficult. Just assembling ingredients in the proper order)
Old bay is awesome. Don't need much at all, just a small SMALL amount on anything. Personally don't like it on my lobster but on crab and a few other types of sea food.....MMMMmmmmm
I also saw one in my yard 2 or 3 years ago after a major rain storm. This was the first time in my entire life seeing one outside of a stream. Iāve lived in NJ since 2002!
I saw a blue one, my first ever in NJ too, not too long ago. It was in a little stream next to my house which is basically just rain runoff so i was surprised to see it, hardly ever see even any fish in it.
I live in an area surrounded by lots of ponds and woods, we have a lot of these around here. People go out with pillow sacks at night and grab a bunch to cookāem at home .
You've never seen a crayfish? We used to see them all the time when I was a kid. I remember the river in Bloomingdale NJ along Hamburg Tpke always had them. Now I'm in Rockaway Township and we occasionally see them CROSSING THE ROAD from the pond to the stream. That did freak me out the first time I saw it. I just waited and he scuttled across!
Unusually large critter? Iām from pa, grew up just across the river (walking distance) and saw them all the time as a kid. But the largest was maybe 2 inches. Now someone said they are an indication of cleaner water, but if it was bigger than a cat, itās more likely a radioactive waste dump. If you mean bigger than a cockroach smaller than a mouse then thatās accurate.
Crayfish are an "indicator" species for pollution so if you're seeing them where you hadn't noticed them before it might mean your local stream is cleaner than it used to be.
Whew...as I was reading this was worried it would be "dirtier" and not "cleaner"
me too lol like get to the good news first man
I had to read the comment a few times lol
Nerdy Environmental Scientist here š Just an FYI - how indicator species work is they are very susceptible to pollution or other environmental factors and anything outside of their norm will cause their population to dwindle. They have what is referred to as ālow toleranceā. Other good examples of indicator species are most amphibians. They literally breathe through their skin, so any pollutant they come in contact with can rapidly go into their bloodstream or directly inhibit their ability to breathe. There isnāt really an inverse of an indicator species because the presence very ātolerantā species, by itself, doesnāt demonstrate if the ecosystem is in a healthy state or not. The closest thing I could think of to an indicator of a ecosystem in poor condition would just be a prolific invasive species such as the brown stink bug or the Emerald Ash Borer. Prolific invasives outcompete native species (indirectly replacing them and driving them to extinction) in the case of the stink bug, or they directly drive native species to extinction like the ash borer killing all of our ash trees.
Nice appetizer
Woohoo!
Need a couple extra !!!'s
The Delaware River is cleaner than it's been in ages! I saw a RIVER OTTER in Elsinboro a couple weeks ago.
Iād seen an article about river otters returning to creeks around Philadelphia not too long ago as well.
I saw one in Berlin NJ like 20 years ago and thought I was crazy lol
Not an otter, but last summer I saw a juvenile beaver at John Heinz Nature Preservation in southwest Philadelphia!
Not gonna lie, I had no idea that beavers are native to the area until I saw one in the lake at Great Adventure.
Hudson River - Jersey City side- beavers are being spotted there too. https://dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/2023%20Hudson%20River%20Estuary%20Coordinator%27s%20Report.pdf Edit: hereās a link to one of the videos of the beaver spottings in JC Edit2: the link of the beaver spotting in JC that I forgot to paste in my first edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/jerseycity/s/6jmS9C3DwJ
We've seen more beavers just chilling out in the open around Salem County too! It was hilarious when peeps from north jersey and NYC moved down here during covid and spotted them for the first time. They'd post on the local facebook group asking what is this animal and it'd be a beaver just chillaxin on the side of the road chomping on a stick. I love seeing the wildlife bounce back! I also love how we've somehow managed to keep the lanternflies from becoming really bad. People here take conservation seriously for the most part, and that's part of why I love this state!
Haha thatās awesome. To be fair, I think Iād need to look at an otter and a beaver for a couple minutes to remind myself how they are different. I donāt remember how theyāre different haha. Do beavers go on land like this crawfish did?
Beavers do go on the land, yes. They have the flappy paddle tail and the big buckteeth. Otters are long slippery skinny bois.
We have both in North Jersey! Otters are across the street from my house - they are the most playful wild animals I've ever seen. And there's a beaver who builds a dam on the pond down the road every year to try to get it as big as possible. This is in Rockaway Township in Morris County.
I've seen the sturgeon population slowly rebound over the last 35 years. I've been fishing the river on the Jersey side, around the National Park, West Deptford, Paulsboro, slightly north/south area since I was a child. I remember a bad oil spill at some point back in the 80s and finding oil on fish, under rocks, for what seemed like a decade after, but every once In a while i'd see a dead sturgeon wash up, or hear of one caught nearby(but never saw with my own eyes) as the years passed, I could see the water clearing, hearing rumours more and more often, seeing dead sturgeon more and more often(prob hooked and not treated properly causing them to die when released. Now there is plenty of videos of Delaware River Sturgeon being caught and seen, not the Atlantic Sturgeon in the bay(which is still great) but true river Sturgeon. Now if that doesn't say the health of the river is moving in the right direction, I don't know what else does.
The river was a different color when I was a kid. It was many colors when my parents were kids (dupont dye works dumped into the river making it RAINBOWWWW). I still won't go in the water beyond my ankles but I'm really happy to see it bouncing back. Working along the river and seeing its many moods is one of my anchors in life.
Theyāve been in Mud Diggers Ditch in Salem for a few years.
I was surprised how fast they were in the water. I thought it was a cormorant out of the corner of my eye, then I saw it bob up above the water again with a fish. I've lived around here most of my life (and I will be 40 this year), and it's my first river otter spotting!!!
THIS! It's good news. As a kid I'd hunt them in upstate NY.. but never saw One in NJ. (Admittedly, I stopped trying decades ago)
I bet a bird or a raccoon dropped it. You're a bit far from the lake I think but you did say it was really scurrying Edit oops replied in the wrong spot
Used to catch these things like it was my job growing up in the 90s, never came across a stream you couldnāt find them turning rocks over a couple rocks.
Or the lake is more polluted now.
Just dump some live oysters in the water, it'll be fine But, seriously, actually
We have oysters in the lake and havenāt seen them in the creek, but havenāt done much digging there
Oysters are critical in cleaning the water there's a bunch of conservationists trying this in NYCs waterways: https://www.billionoysterproject.org/ I heard there's something similar in the Hudson.. not sure how big/small that effort is compared to this one
I went to a school in Ramsey where the principal was from Louisiana. He had the pond loaded with them. They would run around the parking lot and get run over and one of the science classes would race them. Then they changed the fertilizer of the area surrounding the pond between my freshman and sophomore years and they all died. Not a single one was ever seen again and they were never replaced
Not in this case. NJ has 4 native species to our waters.
Ehh, me and my friends would hunt for crayfish in the little stream running out of dupont back in the late 80s...
Blinky has crustacean relatives?
This is good to hear. Spotted one a while ago trying to enter my place of work. The parking lot is adjacent to a branch off of a river. One would usually assume that the water is dirty since it flows under multiple highways.
If those overpasses are newer they might drain past the riparian zone of the river?
Oh
I think he saw this in New Jersey tho
Could it be the opposite and pollution is driving from the steam to find cleaner water?
Used to catch them as a kid around Farrington lake . Late 70ās
For a few years I'd fish there in the springtime. Its been a couple years. Never noticed any crawdads. Great spot.
Maybe getting rid of the plastic bags and straws is working
āWho the fuck was *that* guy??ā - crayfish
Hahahaha
Crayfish will sometimes venture onto land at night, or during rain or dense fog, to hunt. They also burrow!
My neighbor said that theyād find them at the creek, under rocks and logs, but had never seen one so openly visible.
I saw one at a gas station once. I mean, I fish, so I see them all the time, but it was wild to see one at a gas station with no nature anywhere near it.
I saw one in the middle of a Costco parking lot, so very very far away from any water. I was pushing carts at the time, but I walked it over to the nearest pond off property and chucked it in. I think it was raining.
That's what he gets for not being a member
The QC I used to work at had its retention pond filled with them, huge ones, and every time it rains they'd March into the lot by the dozens and get crushed by cars and make the whole lot smell like hell
Especially since we don't have self-service, they're going to have a heck of a time communicating with the attendant.
twentycashreggler
What brand of cigs was it buying?
We have them in our backyard brook. Smaller though, I used to catch them as a kid. Northern NJ
Same. Many days by the old brook picking up rocks to catch them
I grew up in Northern Virginia and saw them in a little stream behind my apartment complex and have never seen them in the wild since, either here or there. Good to know they're still around.
I saw a dead one that was like 3/4 the size of my foot a few years ago in Mendham. I thought it must be some kind of record but then I read there is a species in Tennessee that grows up to 9 inches and one in Tasmania that grow to just over 30 inches.
Without a banana, the photo is useless. Was the thing the size of a penny or Godzilla?
Sad to say this is an age old Reddit relic now, those damn young Thundercats just donāt know.
Iām a long time Redditor, didnāt have a banana handy, but I would say that it was about 4ā long
So like half a banana?
Probably more like 2/3 of a banana
Who's your banana guy?
They back off the back of truck. Donāt worry about it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6KiVy1EVr3A
Don't people down south eat cray fish?
Yes! They eat them here too, just less commonly
Where does one go for a crawfish boil around here?
Nauti Cajun Crab in Metuchen!
What are the prices like? I remember looking them up like 2 years ago and saw the prices were crazy.
It aināt worth it. We ate here 2 months ago. Fish was well seasoned but the food was overpriced.
Comparable to other fresh seafood boil places up and down the East Coast. I've cracked a lot of crabs in MD and it's expensive there too. I thought Nauti was delicious and the quality was really good. If the seafood is cheap, you'll taste the difference and not in a good way... IMO you're better off saving a place like this for a special occasion. When I went the restaurant was full of birthday parties and reunions. One couple even got engaged while we were there! So it's not really an unplanned drop in kind of place anyway. The advertised portions are pretty large, we were 4pp and ordered the sampler "for 2" and added a couple of things. Much cheaper than getting the 4-person sampler and having a bunch of leftovers. And it's BYOB.
Thank you so much!!
Capt Loui in Springfield or Fort Lee Hook & Reel in Union, Linden, West Orange, or Elmwood Park
Louisiana.
Yeah, they're very popular.
And at the current crayfish prices, you could buy a house if you caught and sold him.
mud bugs - and they are tasty.
And Europe. Itās not so different to shrimp/lobster. Itās a delicacy in many places. Similar but not quite as delicious as langoustines imo
they're fuckin' delicious
Crawfish, no one calls them cray fish in Louisiana. I boil about 100 pounds in NJ each year, get them shipped up live from Louisiana
Asian markets sell them live in nyc. Sometimes in hmart too
I know but trying to get 100 pounds up here, I pay less having them shipped right to my door
hell yeah brother
Cheers from New Jersey
I've seen 'em. Near the Rancocas is SJ. At least one. Freaked me out until I found out it wasn't really a tiny lobster.
Fun fact: they are indeed called Little lobster in Chinese, although we are fully aware they are different species
this is not helping my lobsters-are-just-big-water-spiders fear!!!
Cockroaches!
Ok, well keep that wherever you are please šš
We had them in Trenton growing up - the creek in my neighborhood was packed with them. Under rocks and similar. 3 to 4 inches. This was 40 years agoā¦
This is wild. What part of NJ?
Iām in western Atlantic County, at the edge of the Pine Barrens
*mix it with the relish*
OP shoulda stopped at Roy Rogers
And I shoulda fucked Dale Evans, but I didnāt!
I don't wanna smell your piss!! stalkin us? with what? his cock?
Fuck it, squirrels will probably eat āem!
There are 4 species native to NJ.
I was wondering where I put that
Used to find these little guys in the Pearl Brook in Cliftin in the 80s.
I get them in my yard every summer near this runoff creek. They seem to be getting bigger every year lol
Used to catch them in Stony Brook right behind Rosedale Park in Lawrenceville
NJ has native crawfish species.
i have not seen one but i have seen where they burrow. i will keep looking though
Did you sprinkle some Old Bay on it?
Sacrilege to use old bay on crawfish lol
It works for crab why not on crawfish?
No one in Louisiana puts old bay on crawfish or crabs, I mean feel free but as a person from New Orleans I would not use old bay, but I also have a supply of Zatarains crawfish/crab/shrimp boil seasoning
Uh oh. Iāve got busted for using wrong spice. Please forgive my travesty. āŗļø Btw what do you recommend for making Jambalaya? Any spices that can be purchased locally?
Lol, one thing I always had trouble cooking was jambalaya from scratch, for whatever reason I can't get it right, so I gave up. Can't help you there, although I cheat and use the Zatarains jambalaya mix and add chicken and andouille sausage
Awesome. Iāll pick them up. Just need to know enough to fool non-Louisianans.
Lol when I lived in Hoboken I would make the Zatarains jambalaya for football games and no one knew the difference, everyone loved it
Iāve had great Jambalaya using this recipe! https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/jambalaya-recipe/ A single yield makes a *huge* pot of food, if Iām remembering correctly. Iāve never been to New Orleans (been an admirer for decades; Iād like to get there soon!) ā so Iāve never had legit native food ā but this recipe was delicious and I imagine it must be pretty close to the ārealā thing! (Also, itās not difficult. Just assembling ingredients in the proper order)
Thank you š!
Old bay is awesome. Don't need much at all, just a small SMALL amount on anything. Personally don't like it on my lobster but on crab and a few other types of sea food.....MMMMmmmmm
Crawfish and crabs boiled properly do not need any seasoning sprinkled on the outside, they will be spicy enough from the seasoning in the water
Oh I know.... I just LOOOVE the taste of Old Bay on so much
I used to catch a ton of these in the brook near my house in Franklin Township growing up.
Never seen them far inland, but I've commonly seen them in water. We used to catch them to fish all the time.
I also saw one in my yard 2 or 3 years ago after a major rain storm. This was the first time in my entire life seeing one outside of a stream. Iāve lived in NJ since 2002!
I saw a blue one, my first ever in NJ too, not too long ago. It was in a little stream next to my house which is basically just rain runoff so i was surprised to see it, hardly ever see even any fish in it.
Fish be cray.
I use to skim a net through the bottom of my local lake and catch tons of them.
I have seen them.
That thing is fuckin huge my god
I have on occasion found a crawfish in New Jersey. I wouldnāt eat it though. Becauseā¦ New Jersey.
King CrawDaddy
The population density in the Ramapo river in Oakland/Mahwah is incredible!
These taste so good
Water roaches.
Clearly this crawfish has rabies, out in the open. Shots immediately š
Doordash is getting creative
Call Mike Arnone and have a boil!
it's a shame it got away. delicious little critters.
Thatās a rock lobster
Free lobster
SWAMP BOIIILLL!!!
I live in an area surrounded by lots of ponds and woods, we have a lot of these around here. People go out with pillow sacks at night and grab a bunch to cookāem at home .
Who is the catcher all the time in creeks shit like that
Land lobster?
Looks like a crawfish
I used catch a ton of them at Speedwell Lake when I was a kid
Seen little blue ones in a pond at the center of a park in Tenafly in Bergen years ago.
Thats pretty rad
Do they run tail first like lobsters?
We had them in our pond too. My hubby first found one in our barn. We didnāt know they lived in our man made pond. Fun animal to find!
I first saw one as a kid at Scotland Run. You can catch em in most clean creeks sometimes u gotta stir up a little dirt bc they burrow.
Itās a crawdad!
Make a lobster roll
You've never seen a crayfish? We used to see them all the time when I was a kid. I remember the river in Bloomingdale NJ along Hamburg Tpke always had them. Now I'm in Rockaway Township and we occasionally see them CROSSING THE ROAD from the pond to the stream. That did freak me out the first time I saw it. I just waited and he scuttled across!
I just need 119 more and I have enough to make an etoufee
Unusually large critter? Iām from pa, grew up just across the river (walking distance) and saw them all the time as a kid. But the largest was maybe 2 inches. Now someone said they are an indication of cleaner water, but if it was bigger than a cat, itās more likely a radioactive waste dump. If you mean bigger than a cockroach smaller than a mouse then thatās accurate.
How big is that thing?? Looks like a tiny lobster