INVASIVES
Do we have Invasive Alien Crayfish?
Ever since the Crayfish that Ate Wisconsin, Orconectes rusticus, was found in Lake of the Woods in the 1960Ős, this native of the Ohio and Mississippi drainages has been showing up, reducing the abundance and diversity of aquatic plants and invertebrates throughout Ontario, Quebec, and the Great Lakes states. Introduced as discarded fishing bait, they grow larger than native species, and stand up more fiercely to fish predators.
Any Crayfish may become invasive if it is moved to a new place. All of our native aquatic species have been introduced invasively in places where they didn't occur naturally, blurring the record of their natural distribution.
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