FOUND CRAYFISH - NEED INFO PLEASE

[lnav09]

I found a crayfish in the gutter in front of my house about a month ago. The only water source is at the end of the block, and it is brackish water in the Ballona Creek which feeds into the Pacific Ocean. I initally thought it might have been dropped by a passing heron or egret. I thought they needed to be in water, so I had a brand new small cat litter pan in the garage and used it to 'rescue' it.

About a week later, after deciding it might not be right to turn it loose into a local pond or marsh (of which there are one of each within a 5-mile radius of my home), I bought a 10 gal. aqaurium and put it in there. It seemed quite content and it's been feeding on frozen peas, salmon eggs (the trout bait ones) and the aquarium plants. He did spend some time occassionally in each corner of the tank acting like he was trying to get out.

The aquarium is kept in a room that has the door shut when I am not home and at night so the cats don't go in unsupervised. But last night the crayfish (who I have named Mr. Pinchy) escaped from the tank! My cat discovered him on the floor this morning. I returned him to the tank and it appears he climed up the filter tube, up the filter, and out the back of the tank. The tank is covered with a glass lid, but the back portion is a thick plastic flap that you can cut slots to accomodated tubes and filters. He was able to push up past that portion easily. I temporarily set up some 'Pinchy-proofing' but am wondering if there is something else I need to do. I didn't know these things like to crawl around on land so much.

Here is the link to my nature blog that has photos of Mr. Pinchy. Can anyone please identify what species of crayfish he is? And also give me any tips about whether I should keep him or let him go (and where).

http://urbanwildhome.blogspot.com/ (scroll down to the 9/22/09 entry for several photos)


Thanks kindly,
Linda

[jwfetz]

Looks like it is in the genus Pacifastacus, but the exact species is difficult to tell from the photos you posted. See the crayfish ID key to see if you can narrow it down. http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/crayfish/Keys/pacifastacus.htm

Cheers,
JWFetz