Mutant crayfish got rid of males, and its clones are taking over the world

From a stream in Florida to a pet shop in Germany and on to Japan and Madagascar.

Read the whole story

 

[Derecho Imminent]

North American fresh water lobster.

 

[Carewolf]

I, for one, welcome our new pinchy overlords....

Amazing range, although how mich of a threat does this pose, simply by being able to breed endlessly? Also, I'm really curious why we don't see more large animals like this. Sure, there's likely long term downsides, but is it just that thry can spread with globalisation and not wind up in a tiny area and essentially overcompete to death?

I assume they all die off the first time a disease they are all vulnerable shows up. That is the problem with clones. We have the same problem with fruit trees, it just takes one bad disease to wipe all of them out.

 

[Nifty'sPapa]

It's an editing error surely, but there should be no "the" before Ukraine.

 

[Carewolf]

It's an editing error surely, but there should be no "the" before Ukraine.

Depends. Both are valid. It used to be an error to not have "the" in front. Now it is just old fashioned.

 

[0bliv!on]

It's an editing error surely, but there should be no "the" before Ukraine.

It's traditionally correct to call it "the Ukraine", because I think "Ukraine" comes from the word for "border" or "borderlands". Of course, Ukrainians don't like this because they don't like their country being referred to relative to another country (Russia in this case), so the modern usage is to not use "the".

 

[0bliv!on]

I, for one, welcome our new pinchy overlords....

Amazing range, although how mich of a threat does this pose, simply by being able to breed endlessly? Also, I'm really curious why we don't see more large animals like this. Sure, there's likely long term downsides, but is it just that thry can spread with globalisation and not wind up in a tiny area and essentially overcompete to death?

I assume they all die off the first time a disease they are all vulnerable shows up. That is the problem with clones. We have the same problem with fruit trees, it just takes one bad disease to wipe all of them out.

Let's hope that happens BEFORE people build a multi-billion industry around them...

 

[hutsell]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

 

[0bliv!on]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

That ignores etymology.

Good write-up from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18233844

Edit: Example of countries still with "the":

- The Philippines
- The Bahamas
- The Netherlands

Etc.

 

[Veritas super omens]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

That ignores etymology.

Good write-up from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18233844

Edit: Example of countries still with "the":

- The Philippines
- The Bahamas
- The Netherlands

Etc.

er The USA?

 

[Sixclaws]

I, for one, welcome our new pinchy overlords....

Amazing range, although how mich of a threat does this pose, simply by being able to breed endlessly? Also, I'm really curious why we don't see more large animals like this. Sure, there's likely long term downsides, but is it just that thry can spread with globalisation and not wind up in a tiny area and essentially overcompete to death?

I assume they all die off the first time a disease they are all vulnerable shows up. That is the problem with clones. We have the same problem with fruit trees, it just takes one bad disease to wipe all of them out.

The Gros Michel Banana is a perfect example of that.

Useless knowledge tip: The reason banana-flavored candies tastes so different from what is actually sold at the supermarkets is because it is based on what the Gros Michel is supposed to taste like.

 

[0bliv!on]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

That ignores etymology.

Good write-up from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18233844

Edit: Example of countries still with "the":

- The Philippines
- The Bahamas
- The Netherlands

Etc.

er The USA?

..... I need that facepalm emoji....

And then to go and sit in a corner for a while.

 

[jdale]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

That ignores etymology.

Good write-up from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18233844

Edit: Example of countries still with "the":

- The Philippines
- The Bahamas
- The Netherlands

Etc.

er The USA?

The article linked in what you quoted says:
Countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom also carry the definite article because they are compound nouns with adjectives.

But it's "The USA", it's not "The America".

 

[Derecho Imminent]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

Honestly I think Canada, Mexico, and all the other countries in north and south America should be a little put out that the United States of America is constantly referred to as just America. America is 2 continents, and the USA does not own the whole thing.

 

[GerryGilmore]

Once science becomes sufficiently advanced, males will become obsolete. There is hope for humanity if this is the trajectory. Most of our attempts to eliminate ourselves have been testosterone-fueled destructive instincts. An eventual all female society may result in some common sense, an end to the glorification of violence and greed, and best of all -- a chance.

If you're a guy, you should try out that hypothesis on yourself and let us know the results.

Nice gender assumption.

Nah, you're obviously a chick. No dude could be THAT self-hating.

 

[0bliv!on]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

That ignores etymology.

Good write-up from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18233844

Edit: Example of countries still with "the":

- The Philippines
- The Bahamas
- The Netherlands

Etc.

er The USA?

The article linked in what you quoted says:
Countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom also carry the definite article because they are compound nouns with adjectives.

But it's "The USA", it's not "The America".

"America" is not a country, it's two continents. Even informally people say "The US".

 

[0bliv!on]

Once science becomes sufficiently advanced, males will become obsolete. There is hope for humanity if this is the trajectory. Most of our attempts to eliminate ourselves have been testosterone-fueled destructive instincts. An eventual all female society may result in some common sense, an end to the glorification of violence and greed, and best of all -- a chance.

If you're a guy, you should try out that hypothesis on yourself and let us know the results.

Nice gender assumption.

Nah, you're obviously a chick. No dude could be THAT self-hating.

You'd be surprised. Or shocked and horrified.

Also, their comment got 4 upvotes.

 

[joebambino]

The story doesn't say if these suckers taste good. Crayfish and fries the new fast food.

 

[NetworkElf]

I hope that this works out better for the crayfish than it did for the Asgard.

 

[Kiljoy616]

As the article said this is both fascinating and terrifying depending on which scientific or environmental lens you view it through.

Fascinating from a scientific point. Terrifying because it could decimate other that are part of a bigger food chain and cause unknown problems in the long run. Plus this animal is probably not that tasty. No need for lesses of any kind.

 

[Decoherent]

Two quotes from the article:

“The species seems to have three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two.”

“The new genome sequence confirms that this was the case, as marmokrebs carries two sets of nearly identical chromosomes, along with a third that's more distantly related. (Since crayfish apparently have a lot of chromosomes to begin with, this means that these animals carry around 276 individual chromosomes).”

I don’t understand what this is saying. How do the 276 chromosomes come into it?

Diploid organisms (2n) have two sets of chromosomes ; this triploid guy (3n) has three. Apparently it has 92 chromosomes, which seems about right for the little buggers. Being triploid is of note because that means they're sterile- in meiosis, you can divide two sets of chromosomes into two (haploid) cells, but three sets sure doesn't divide properly in half! Common (Cavendish) bananas are also triploid, which is why they have to be propagated via grafting. They're teetering on the edge of sudden extinction, too. I don't know if this was what you were asking, hopefully it helps!

 

[Kiljoy616]

So you all can insult and snark pretty well, but not one actual answer as to why, if the reproduction question is answered, there needs to be anything but females in human society.

Why do we need males going forward?

Provide a reason, maybe, not just a wise-ass comment. If two females can reproduce and produce female offspring - why do we need men?

"I am one so that's why" doesn't count.

Simple males reason for been around kid is so that there is diversity. Cloned animals even in nature can be devastated by disease. This animal is been helped by humans idiotic need for pets. Males allow for better chance of survival when it comes to mixing genes. For higher level life forms like mammals this is even more important since child rearing takes time.

 

[lost_gweedo]

Playing Subnautica. This would come in useful.

Is this edible? Would it make a viable farmed food source? Could we send it to Mars ?

Oh sure, then pretty soon they adapt to space travel and start lobbing themselves at other planets to take over the galaxy.. (want to know more???)

 

[DaveSimmons]

So you all can insult and snark pretty well, but not one actual answer as to why, if the reproduction question is answered, there needs to be anything but females in human society.

Why do we need males going forward?

Provide a reason, maybe, not just a wise-ass comment. If two females can reproduce and produce female offspring - why do we need men?

"I am one so that's why" doesn't count.

We'll be able to create immortal asexual AIs at some point. Why do we need any gendered meatbags?

 

[hutsell]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

Honestly I think Canada, Mexico, and all the other countries in north and south America should be a little put out that the United States of America is constantly referred to as just America. America is 2 continents, and the USA does not own the whole thing.

Uh–oh. Sadly, it looks like I may have unintentionally started something dragging myself into a misunderstanding with a comment that may have been a little too brief.

I did know about "The" existing for some countries but was pointing out how Ukrainians felt with analogies to other countries not having the article "the" in the use of their names.

When I used the unofficial name America, being aware of its status as unofficial, I considered qualifying it but decided against it—for better or worse—as it's not germain to the point of the post.

However, I should point out that the western hemisphere, referred to as the Americas in other parts of the world, has two continents named: "North America" and "South America"; not America. Also, "The United States of America" originally referred to by outsiders as a plural and using the shorthand term for both continents, "The United States of the Americas" is (I think) the only country in the western hemisphere with "America" in its name.

If there aren't any unexpected flaws in that explanation, using the shorthand name "America" should be reasonably acceptable without other countries finding it to be an offense; or, to avoid this problem, "The U.S.", is another shorthand that can be used, as previously mentioned in another comment.

 

[ringphlinger]

Crawfish.

Crawdads.

 

[gkorper]

What I find most interesting is that their native habit prior to pet trade distribution and parthenogenesis is only a couple of southern states in the US and yet they seem over a couple of decaades to have "spread throughout Europe...from Sweden to Italy and from the Netherlands to the Ukraine". That implies that there were some other changes in the genome given that Sweden is not all that similar to Florida!

Or perhaps they are just trying to get back to Georgia and confused the country for the US state of the same name ;-)

 

[Vnend]

I found the following on the U. Kentucky Ag school web page:

"Crayfishes can be found on every continent in all type of aquatic or semi-aquatic habitat, Antarctica."
[http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/relatives/crayfish/crayfish.htm]

Iceland would present an interesting challenge. The Primary (of three levels; Primary burrowers spend most of their lives in their burrows, which can have several branches and (at least with Kentucky species) as much as 2 meters deep. Secondary burrowers split their time between their burrows and streams or ponds; tertiary burrowers make simple burrows in the streams or ponds they live in) burrowing species dig their burrows down to and below the local water table. But in Iceland you can have very cold temps on the surface and hot water at less than 2 meters down. It could be an interesting balancing act for an introduced species to learn. (Or they'd just get terminally confused.)

Neat critters; even a quick dig can turn up a lot of info. I grew up with crawdads (local dialect) part of every day wildlife and never knew most of this stuff.

 

[NelaK]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

Honestly I think Canada, Mexico, and all the other countries in north and south America should be a little put out that the United States of America is constantly referred to as just America. America is 2 continents, and the USA does not own the whole thing.

I think lately they're all just trying to avoid any association to the US of A. If that means giving up a claim on being 'Americans' so be it.

 

[jomarx]

Playing Subnautica. This would come in useful.

Is this edible? Would it make a viable farmed food source? Could we send it to Mars ?

JOHJ

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XyS8W7A77as/hqdefault.jpg

 

[numerobis]

it's "Ukraine", without "the", when will automatic spellcheck catch up?..

Fwiw, anyone who may think (as I did at one time) this is an obsessive detail that can only irritate Ukrainians, they should try applying it to another country such as:

• 
  
  • The country we're in is the Canada or the Mexico or the America.
  • The country we're in is Canada or Mexico or America.

Honestly I think Canada, Mexico, and all the other countries in north and south America should be a little put out that the United States of America is constantly referred to as just America. America is 2 continents, and the USA does not own the whole thing.

They are. But the US doesn't care.

I was once annoyed at being called "American" in France, when I was *Canadian*. They pointed out America is a continent, and kept calling me American.

 

[Vnend]

so.. sustainable cajun food source?

I grew up in Louisiana and my first thought was, how do they taste?

I grew up in the Ohio Valley and I thought the same thing. Crawdads were a regular part of my uncle's burgoo. Also (snapping) turtle and pretty much anything else that couldn't run fast enough.

 

[numerobis]

So you all can insult and snark pretty well, but not one actual answer as to why, if the reproduction question is answered, there needs to be anything but females in human society.

Why do we need males going forward?

Provide a reason, maybe, not just a wise-ass comment. If two females can reproduce and produce female offspring - why do we need men?

"I am one so that's why" doesn't count.

We wouldn't, at which point lesbian couples could have children together without involving some third party. But the same holds for men: gays could have biological children as well. Why would heterosexual couples jump at using these techniques?

 

[Vnend]

Crawfish.

Crawdads.

Edit: Arg, still got ninja-ed.

 

[ztechrdr]

Two quotes from the article:

“The species seems to have three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two.”

“The new genome sequence confirms that this was the case, as marmokrebs carries two sets of nearly identical chromosomes, along with a third that's more distantly related. (Since crayfish apparently have a lot of chromosomes to begin with, this means that these animals carry around 276 individual chromosomes).”

I don’t understand what this is saying. How do the 276 chromosomes come into it?

Diploid organisms (2n) have two sets of chromosomes ; this triploid guy (3n) has three. Apparently it has 92 chromosomes, which seems about right for the little buggers. Being triploid is of note because that means they're sterile- in meiosis, you can divide two sets of chromosomes into two (haploid) cells, but three sets sure doesn't divide properly in half! Common (Cavendish) bananas are also triploid, which is why they have to be propagated via grafting. They're teetering on the edge of sudden extinction, too. I don't know if this was what you were asking, hopefully it helps!

Yes, thanks. I thought that there were normally only two chromosomes in an animal: x and y. Now I see that the X and Y chromosomes are just one pair of many pairs.

 

[Vnend]

Crawfish.

Crawdads.

Mudbugs.

 

[Psychophant]

There must be a Jordan Peterson joke in here somewhere, just haven't found it yet.