Go back to my home page, Welcome to rickubis.com
           Go back to the RICKUBISCAM page.

Today is 2/12/2021. In the years since this page first appeared (2002), I've observed many animals and plants, and documented them on these pages. But, there will 
always be those animals that I might only encounter once. I'm going to place invertebrates that I've captured on film, and without a page of their own...here. So, molluscs,
crustaceans, jellyfish (that group that I knew as coelenterates--now different), bryozoans--etc. may be seen here.

At Scobee Field on 10/16/2021 I found this burrow, and it had water in it.  I had a brief view of something moving in the hole, and took some pictures of a crawfish's face before it submerged
 but they didn't come out very well. But at least I knew that the hole belonged to a crawfish. For the next 40 minutes, I stalked the hole, and caught some pictures and short
video of the crawfish. From the size and color (and location) I assume that this was a Red Swamp Crawfish (Procambarus clarkii). Even though the burrow was in a ditch,
there was no chimney, but if there was one, it had probably been crushed by the machinery that left tracks in the mud. 
I read a lot of literature about this species of crawfish. There are descriptions of their physiology and their tunneling behavior.   In "Burrowing activity of Procambarus
clarkii on levees: analyzing behavior and burrow structure" by Phillip J. Haubrock . Alberto F. Inghilesi . Giuseppe Mazza . Michele Bendoni . Luca Solari . Elena Tricarico (2019)
 I found a brief reference to "the typical sideway position used in this species to breathe air oxygen outside the water" . 
In "Procambarid Crawfish:  Life History and Biology W. Ray McClain and Robert P. Romaire   (2007)
"For unknown reasons, some individuals will not burrow as the habitat dries, while others will construct very shallow burrows that can quickly dry out and lead to death."  "Crawfish burrows 
are usually dug by an individual crawfish, with the burrow diameter determined by the size of the crawfish. The burrow extends downward into a terminal chamber that is slightly larger than 
the diameter of the tunnel." "it is thought that any free water in a burrow is likely to be trapped water, perhaps from rainfall seepage, rather than water seeping into the burrow from the water
table.  When there is no standing water in the burrow, wet mud in the chamber serves as a humidifier."
   

In "Gill Morphology in the Red Swamp Freshwater Crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Crustacea: Decapoda: Cambarids) (Girard 1852) from the River Nile and its Branches in Egypt: by 
Mohamed M. Abumandour  (2016) describes: " From available literature, it is well known that there were special anatomical characters of the respiratory adaptations of crustacea to 
terrestrial and amphibious life, in which the crayfish can live for weeks in burrows without free water and adapt to survive for long periods of hypoxia that occur within this burrows due to the
large surface of respiratory gill area."  The crawfish exposed its side to the air, in a "breathing posture".  In the closeup, there are feathery structures visible at lower edge of the carapace, 
where the legs are attached. I think these are sections of the gills, specifically the "podobranchiae" one of three types of gill structures possessed by crawfish. ("The red swamp freshwater
crayfish possess a trichobranchiate gill type, which consists of three types according to their place of attachment on the body; podobranchiae, arthrobranchiae and pleurobranchiae." from
Abumnador 2016). With such an abundance of gill tissue, crawfish can move around in air for some time-as long as the gills are kept moist.
   

I had to walk away from the burrow, then move back slowly, and then use telephoto shots to catch the crawfish unawares. I got a few shots of its face before it backed under the water.
   

These pictures of Scobee Field from 10/02/2021-- 10/09/2021 show how the water levels can change at the park. Since Scobee Field is inside Barker Reservoir, it is going to flood if we
get enough rain. After all, Barker Reservoir was built to collect water and control it to avoid flooding Houston, which is East of this area.
   
                      10/02/2021                                                                   10/02/2021                                                             10/05/2021                                                                   10/05/2021

 
                       10/09/2021                                                                   10/09/2021

At Scobee Field on 9/18/2021--This time I found a fresh hole. The ground was soaked well, so the mud was soft, and didn't mold into solid pellets for making a chimney. But I was able to get
a quick look at the crawfish's mud-covered face in the hole before it dropped out of sight.
   

spring/summer 2019  (BIG CRAWFISH!) I have just realized that I have rarely said anything about our native crawfish anywhere on my pages(people here say "crawfish" instead of "crayfish", so I go with that) . This entry is a brief mention this particular species, which has amazed me since I first noticed it.  The Red Swamp Crawfish (Procambarus clarkii) lives here, and Houston
seems to be in the center of the "native range" for this species.  It's VERY large. Information about them can be found on the USGS page 
here:  https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=217  
According to that website, their adult size is   "from 5.5 to 12 centimeters (or 2.2 to 4.7 inches)".  The crawfish are omnivores, and can be very voracious in an enclosed ecoystem (as in an 
aquarium). They live in a variety of freshwater habitats. As I've seen here, if the water level in their environment drops, they tunnel down to meet the water table. As the website mentions, they
are "physical ecosystem engineers".  Along with tunnels, they create chimneys from the burrowed mud.  

Red Swamp crawfish are commonly eaten by humans, and have been successfully cultivated for that purpose. They are also very good at using their enviroment. These two factors have 
caused some problems in area inside the U.S. (but outside their native range) and also in other countries--where this species as become an invasive pest. These crawfish have appeared on
other pages of mine here, but usually in the jaws or beaks of other animals. (I admit that I am merely assuming that all of the big red crawfish are this species.  For today's entry, I'll just share 
these three images from 2019, which show claws that had been discarded on the trail at Brazos Bend State Park. These pictures were taken on three different days.  The claws alone are
about 3 inches long!

          April 28, 2019                                         May 05, 2019                                     July 28, 2019 

July 12, 2003  After finishing an excellent lunch of a shrimp po'boy (KICK-BUTT shrimp!) and fries, I sat and enjoyed my favorite company and the view from the back deck.  Then, we went down a
flight of stairs, and took some time to take a look around at the water. Just a nice, relaxing lunch. While we were looking around, these jellyfish would occasionally surface (see NO PB, below), 
then slowly sink back down. It is probably a Sea Nettle, (Chrysaora quinquecirrha), but I'm not certain (coelenterates are not familiar to me). Sea Nettles can give a "moderate to severe" sting, 
which, I suppose, is how they got their name.  I enjoyed watching them swim by. Anyone who wishes to can watch this video clip  (flv video, 315 kb) and see one swimming, also. Spongebob, of
course, is that cartoon character with the annoying laugh who likes to go jellyfishing.
------------------------------------------
                                   IT'S A "NO PB, JUST J" FISH

------
February 23, 2002   I was visiting Donna, and went out for a walk around her house. I saw this...mass... moving near a shallow pool off near the cove, just at the edge of her yard.  On closer
inspection, it turned out to be lots of little fiddler crabs. They were quite responsive to my presence, clearing the area while I was at least 20 feet away. I walked into the grass, and flushed some
out so I could capture their image on video.  Click here to see it. (.mpg, no sound, 1,671kb) The image below is a picture of one of the crabs in my hand.
--------------------
---------FFIDDLER CRAB

January 1, 2003 HAPPY NEW YEAR!  If you don't feel like wrecking yourself with various recreational perception-altering substances on New Years' Eve, then you can wake up at a
decent hour and really enjoy the first day of the new year.  I realise this sounds blasphemous to a large number of people, but what do they know? After all, "partying" for a number of years has 
certainly had deleterious effects on their brains. Hence, they are thinking at less than optimum capacity, anyway.  So...it was a beautiful day. While wandering around Galveston State Park, 
Donna and I encountered this alligator in one of the fresh-water ponds. (New Years Gator, below)  When we first noticed him, he was further away, and was showing this posture. As we 
watched, it turned 90 degrees, still maintaining posture, and then reversed direction, and returned to original position. We approached closer, and were about 15 feet behind when I took the
picture.  I saw no other alligators around.  Then, later in the afternoon, I was in the front yard of Donna's house when I noticed an amazing thing. Thousands of strands of web (or some kind of 
"arthropod silk") were spread over the entire yard. They weren't visible unless I caught the sun relflection off of them at the correct angle. The image below (WHAT THE HECK?!) shows a portion
of the yard with these strands. Click here to see a larger (800 x 600) image which shows a greater area. When I examined some of the strands closer, I couldn't find any kind of organism attached
to them. But, there were so many strands, it was hard to pick out a single one. The other picture below (MY GOSH! IT'S FULL OF STRANDS!) shows another portion of the yard, and the webs
can be seen some distance away.  Since I had to have the sun in front of me to see the web material, it was hard to get a clear picture.(clicking the image will show an 800x600 version).  I called
this "arthropod silk" since I can't be sure that spiders were the organisms responsible for this--not since I learned about Barklice.

----
                   WHAT THE HECK!?                                    NEW YEARS GATOR                   MY GOSH, IT'S FULL OF STRANDS!

If you'd like to know more about the park follow these links:

Brazos Bend State Park   The main page.

Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer's Page  The volunteer's main page.
 

           Go back to my home page, Welcome to rickubis.com
           Go back to the RICKUBISCAM page.
           Go back to the See the World page.