e_moon60 (e_moon60) wrote,
e_moon60
e_moon60

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80 acres: ancient monsters

Yesterday's foray to the creek and gave me the chance to see two bold adventurers climbing the rocks at the Westbrook rock crossing (rocks we put in so we could drive a truck across to the SW meadow with building materials for Owl Pavilion) --one was a fish, which I didn't get to photograph (slow me, fast fish) and one was the crayfish below.   The water was flowing over the rocks, but not deeply, as you can see.  The fish's progress was faster and more spectacular (like the flopping, jumping fish in the PBS commercial) but the crayfish was just as surprising and interesting. 

                                                 
With water flowing partly over it, you can't see how brilliantly this fellow is colored--wine-red markings on olive green, with bright blue (tropical-fish-blue) tubercles on the big nippers.   I've seen this color pattern only once before--again with crayfish right after a flash flood, working their way upstream (that time in the gully system, and I didn't have a very good camera.) 

Alas for the fish, Westbrook dried up today--not only no flow, but only a few puddles, getting smaller by the hour.  Crayfish can live in holes underground and stay moist; fish aren't so lucky.

Tags: crayfish, photography, willdlife
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