My aquarium geek is excited about his latest crayfish color morph: a true pink!
This Procambarus Clarkii crayfish is a male.
A pink procambarus clarkii crayfish
So far he has only one pair of these, but once they are mature hopefully craybies will be on the (pink) horizon.
More news to follow!
Recently I had to give a lecture on hand papermaking, and what sustainable fibers contemporary papermakers are using today, like invasive seaweed on the Atlantic coast, leftovers from sugarcane production, even elephant dung. That’s right.
During my research and preparation, MAG had his own little papermaking mill, producing strips of summer squash paper-underwater. How it unintentionally started? He keeps the plecos, ramshorns, and crays on a healthy diet of boiled zucchini, cucumber, and summer squash, which they eat ravenously. Over the course of time, MAG noticed strips of what looked like Scotch tape floating around the various tanks. Lo and behold, they were the remnants of the summer squash-that thin layer between the rind and the meat. When removing them from the tank and letting them dry, they were actually paper like! The plecos and company had made paper by…not quite by hand, by mouth? We kept the strips, hoping maybe in a few months we can make a full sheet with acid free DIY Japanese wheat glue. By the way, I shared the strips with those attending the lecture; it was a little hit, and hopefully inspired some artists to turn to nature, yes, even fish tanks, for a little papermaking lesson.
We are now on Tumblr, with a place just for crays:
Please follow us there and see how life is in Crayfish City. You might see the streets lined with some bonsai, and an occasional visiting shrimp or finned friend passing through.
Come visit Crayfish City:
http://crayfishcity.tumblr.com/
And we’re sorry about that. We have a lot of crayfish stories to tell, including one found in the mountains of Vermont.
MAG has been busy these days, but we will post about our crazy cray days soon. In the meantime, enjoy our new friend and a revamped blog. Tell us if you like the new layout. We’re in the early stages, so feedback is welcome!
MY AQUARIUM GEEK 