Inquirer: Yep, that's what it is
Today we have an unusual and anonymous wildlife Inquiry that involves hairy legs.
Our Concerned Reader is refinishing a coffee table in the carport and went out Friday to work on it when lo and behold, there was an odd creature lurking nearby.
"I looked down at the table and THIS was sitting right beside it. Needless to say, an immediate change of underwear was in order! Scared the heck out of me! I prodded it to crawl into a bucket I pick strawberries in, so it had holes for it to be able to breathe.
"Anyway, my friend told me that it was a crayfish.
"I did some research and found that after they mate, the female carries her eggs on the hairs of her legs and disperses/hatches them in May. Sure enough, I looked back in the bucket and I could see tiny-looking insects that had tiny pincers on them.
"Now my question is this: How in the world did this thing end up in my carport?"
My best guess is that:
A: It walked, and
B: You're not from around here, are you?
It's possible some prankster might have put it there, because they usually don't venture far from water (the crayfish, not the pranksters). Our Reader lives on Reese Road, so we might assume it's near where Cooper Creek passes beneath it. Otherwise, my money's on the prankster.
Anyway, your friend is right. It's a crayfish, or crawfish, or crawdad or mudbug, They're found in creeks or lakes or swamps and even in crawfish farms in Louisiana, which produces most of the crawfish eaten in the world.
They're related to the lobster, and they're found all over the world. (Not literally. I mean, I doubt there are any at the North Pole. Yet.)
As with their larger cousin, they're some good eating. They're great boiled by themselves and served with drawn butter, or in crawfish boils with corn, sausage, potatoes and whatever else.
But, Reader, I wouldn't bother boiling just that one, because there's not much meat on them. You usually just pull off the tail and pinch the tip to squeeze the meat out.
Connoisseurs, however, will take the other part and suck out whatever's inside a mudbug's head. (Enjoy your oatmeal, friends!)
My personal favorite treatment is crawfish etouffee, which is the tail meat swimming in a rich, heavily seasoned blond roux and served over rice. White rice, not that stuff that looks like it has insects and yard clippings in it.
But one thing I didn't know about crayfish is the manner in which our Reader describes Mrs. Mudbug carrying her young to term.
So when a female crawdad wants to mate, apparently the last thing she's going to do is shave her legs. That doesn't seem like a great way to get Mr. Mudbug in the mood, but I guess when you look like that, hairy legs are the least of your problems.
Seen something that needs attention, or maybe crawling around the carport? Contact me at 706-571-8570 or mowen@ledger-enquirer.com.
This story was originally published May 17, 2015 at 10:02 PM with the headline "Inquirer: Yep, that's what it is."