http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (AP)—Scientists in Zimbabwe say a fresh water crayfish brought from Australia is breeding out of control in the northern Lake Kariba, devouring the food sources of other fish and putting the nation's entire aquatic ecosystem at risk. http://phys.org/news279884162.html Biology Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:00:02 EST news279884162 (Phys.org)—A team of US biologists has found that the chytrid fungus, believed to be responsible for amphibian deaths worldwide, also infects and kills crayfish. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers write that their findings show that non-amphibian species can be infected by the fungus also, which helps explain how the fungus is able to persist in some lakes and ponds even after all of the amphibians in them have been killed. http://phys.org/news275032535.html Biology Tue, 18 Dec 2012 06:10:01 EST news275032535 Australia has 96 critically endangered animal species, listed below. Over the coming months, we will be publishing a profile of each of them, looking at the threats to their survival, what's being done to protect them, and what more needs to be done. http://phys.org/news274005582.html Biology Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:40:11 EST news274005582 The small ostracod Ankylocythere sinuosa measures no more than half a millimetre in length and lives on other crayfish. And, Spanish scientists have discovered it for the first time in Europe. The finding suggests that it arrived along with the invader crayfish Procambarus clarkii some 30 years ago but it is still unknown whether it can invade other crustacean species or whether it benefits or damages the expansion of the already established red swamp crayfish. http://phys.org/news266581927.html Biology Tue, 11 Sep 2012 11:32:16 EST news266581927 One of the most invasive species on the planet is able to source food from the land as well as its usual food sources in the water, research from Queen Mary, University of London has found. http://phys.org/news263233745.html Biology Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:29:19 EST news263233745 The University of Nevada, Reno's Sudeep Chandra, a leading Lake Tahoe scientist who has studied invasive species and limnology at the lake for 20 years, said issuing permits for commercial harvesting of crayfish at Lake Tahoe will help improve clarity at the pristine lake, as well as take away a food source for other invasive species that threaten lake clarity and ecosystems. http://phys.org/news258034474.html Space & Earth Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:18:14 EST news258034474 Nature sometimes copies its own particularly successful developments. A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam and the Ben-Gurion University at Beer-Sheva in Israel has now found that the teeth of the Australian freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus are covered with an enamel amazingly similar to that of vertebrates. Both materials consist of calcium phosphate and are also very alike in terms of their microstructure. This extremely hard substance has apparently developed in freshwater crayfish independently from vertebrates, as it makes the teeth particularly strong. http://phys.org/news256389558.html Biology Mon, 21 May 2012 07:41:07 EST news256389558 (PhysOrg.com) -- Because we’re so smart compared to other species that live on this planet, people tend to ascribe certain abilities as innately human. One of these traits is the ability to lie or cheat. This is because doing so seems to imply a high order of intelligence. Unfortunately, as with many other traits that have once been thought uniquely human, lying, or bluffing appears to occur in other species as well, or at least in one, the lowly male crayfish. In a recent study, Michael Angilletta from Arizona State University and Robbie Wilson of the University of Queensland, found that male crayfish use claw size to bluff their way out of fights with other males. They have published their observations in the Royal Society journal, Biology Letters. http://phys.org/news251025121.html Biology Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:12:15 EST news251025121 (PhysOrg.com) -- Louisiana red swamp crayfish and common carp are two of the most invasive species on the planet yet how they interact has only recently been revealed by scientists at Queen Mary, University of London. http://phys.org/news250242405.html Biology Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:10:01 EST news250242405 The North American signal crayfish could be driving the native white-clawed crayfish from British waterways, because it eats more and is much less fussy about its food than the native critter. http://phys.org/news249300142.html Biology Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:02:33 EST news249300142 Two aquatic biologists have proven that you don't have to travel to exotic locales to search for unusual new species. They discovered a distinctive species of crayfish in Tennessee and Alabama that is at least twice the size of its competitors. Its closest genetic relative, once thought to be the only species in its genus and discovered in 1884 about 130 miles away in Kentucky, can grow almost as big as a lobster. http://phys.org/news214658994.html Biology Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:30:06 EST news214658994 (PhysOrg.com) -- Just a few years ago, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's research station in Boulder Junction, Wis., were growing sick of a crustacean delicacy - the rusty crayfish. Roughly 90,000 of the animals had been caught during an intensive trapping program at the nearby Sparkling Lake. http://phys.org/news208112584.html Biology Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:20:04 EST news208112584 Crayfish make surprisingly complex, cost-benefit calculations, finds a University of Maryland study, opening the door to a new line of research that may help unravel the cellular brain activity involved in human decisions. http://phys.org/news195848490.html Biology Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:21:47 EST news195848490 If you're headed to a freshwater stream this summer and a friend dares you to eat a raw crayfish - don't do it. You could end up in the hospital with a severe parasitic infection. http://phys.org/news194025757.html Medicine & Health Tue, 25 May 2010 17:40:01 EST news194025757 Animals can simplify the brain control of their limb movements by moving a joint with just one muscle that operates against a spring made of the almost perfect elastic substance called resilin. This principle is analysed and illustrated by striking photographs and high-speed video footage, published in the open access journal BMC Biology, of the movements of the mouthparts of crabs and crayfish. http://phys.org/news162796707.html Biology Fri, 29 May 2009 06:19:03 EST news162796707 (PhysOrg.com) -- A study conducted at UQ's Moreton Bay Research Station has found, when it comes to crayfish, size really does matter. http://phys.org/news157221587.html Biology Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:40:17 EST news157221587 Nestled just off the east coast of Australia, picturesque North Stradbroke Island is a haven for local wildlife. Yet some of the inhabitants of the island's creeks and swamps are far from peaceful. Slender crayfish are aggressive territorial creatures, explains ecologist Robbie Wilson of the University of Queensland, Australia. When two crayfish catch sight of one another, they size each other up in a ritualistic display, which can quickly escalate from careful tapping of their opponent's chelae (enlarged front claws) to a full-blown fight. http://phys.org/news154935911.html Biology Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:45:57 EST news154935911