Just when you thought you were safe…

I’m a big fan of movies, I like horror films or maybe something clever maybe science fiction. I loved the Alien films and can argue about which is the best of the quadrilogy with any film buff who wants to criticise the third instalment (which actually I consider to be one of the best).

I like creativity and ideas that are a bit off the wall.

I like weird creatures and odd plants and always find myself thinking that the flora and fauna that we have in reality are much weirder than those that the film makers create. Take a look under a microscope at any of our water-borne native creatures and you can see where the inspiration comes for a lot of our horror movie ‘aliens’…

So how about a crayfish that can clone itself? Science fiction? Nope…science fact….

Awesome…

‘Marmorkrebs’ are a variety of Crayfish that is parthenogenic, which means it can clone itself and does not require a male crayfish…thus a single individual has the potential to escape and colonise an entire environment….!

Recently one of these marbled crayfish (Procambarus fallax f.virginalis) known by its German name of ‘Marmokrebs’ has been sold from a retail outlet in Surrey….aaargggghhh….luckily when the owner of the crayfish realised the true nature of the ‘pet’ he’d owned for two years he contacted the Environment Agency and the crayfish were subsequently destroyed.

It is an offence to this species under the ‘Import of live fish act 1980’. The Fish Health Inspectorate has been informed and has visited the premises and an alert has been issued throughout the ornamental trade.

It doesn’t make comfortable reading though does it?

What if the ‘pet’ owner had simply got bored and thrown the crayfish into the nearby pond/river? What if the ‘pet’ owner supplied all of his friends with ‘pets’…(a little like I did with guinea pigs…)

This story would make a great film….but I’ve seen far too horror movies to underestimate how these ‘invasions’ start….!

Mike C