Artificial burrow sizes for capturing the North American invasive crayfish Procambarus clarkii.

Abstract

We conducted aquarium experiments of artificial burrow preference by the North American invasive crayfish Procambarus clarkii to clarify the artificial burrow sizes for capturing P. clarkii in invaded freshwater areas （e.g., paddy fields, agricultural channels, rivers, lakes, ponds, etc.）. In the aquarium experiments, we observed the preference for internal diameters and lengths of artificial burrows by P. clarkii, which were made from straight polyvinyl chloride pipes. The relationship between the total length （TL）（X, mm） of P. clarkii and the preferred internal diameter （Y, mm） of artificial burrows was described by the significant linear regression: Y＝0.58X＋4.26（ n＝49, P＜0.001）. Among the artificial burrows of different lengths, TL×4 burrows were mainly preferred by P. clarkii. Based on these results, we propose artificial burrow sizes for use to eradicate P. clarkii.