With about 2,000 juvenile shrimp crawfish in 60 outdoor tanks, he is studying how they are growing and whether they could be raised profitably, like their distant kin, red swamp crawfish and white river crawfish.
Shrimp crawfish, however, lay their eggs about the time the current commercial varieties are harvested and would be full-sized in October and November.
When they’re full grown, they can be up to ten centimeters long.
“A female this size right here could have about 300 eggs, maybe 400,” he said.
Professor Lutz is also studying native plants that would be best suited as the shrimp crawfish’s main source of food.
“All of these pools have different combinations of vegetation that we are evaluating and they all have baby shrimp crawfish,” explained Professor Lutz.
He says if all goes right, in two or three years shrimp crawfish could become commercial.
“So we have a native crawfish and native vegetation and hopefully we can augment the production season for crawfish producers,” he said.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, the southeastern United States has the greatest diversity of crawfish in the world, with Louisiana at the top. Crawfish is not only desired by humans. It has all kinds of predators.
“Everybody eats crawfish, even turkeys,” he said.
If the research yields results, the ungainly crawfish could become a seafood favourite all year long.
Is There A Future For Shrimp Crawfish?
US - Professor Greg Lutz, an aquaculture specialist at The University of Louisiana's aquaculture centre looks at the prospects for shrimp crawfish.
