7/02/04
Few people know crawfish come in several colors besides the traditional red
or brown.
Dr. Ray McClain, a crawfish researcher at the LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research
Station in Crowley, said he had heard of pure white and has seen a few
sky-blue crawfish over the years. (Continue below). |
But then some white crawfish found near Iota and some blue ones located
near Mowata were brought to him earlier this year.
"The blue is rare. And the white is even more rare," McClain said.
John Sonnier, research assistant to McClain, tried to line up the crawfish
in the order of red, white and blue for a photo. But the white and blue
started fighting.
"It was very difficult to shoot a photo of all three," he said. "I tried
about 50 or 60 times."
Sonnier has just mated the two unusually colored females with ordinary
crawfish males and is anxious to see the color of the babies, which won’t
be born until sometime in the fall.
McClain said there is a species of crawfish called white river. But they
are more of a light tannish brown than white. Most crawfish in Louisiana
are of the red swamp species.
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