Imagine tailgaters firing up pots for crawfish boils at a Louisiana State University football game.
Sound far-fetched? It's not, according to Greg Lutz, an aquaculture specialist with the LSU AgCenter.
Lutz believes an alternate crawfish species found in the Atchafalaya Basin and other waterways could provide Louisiana with a second crawfish season to supplement the one that runs from spring to early summer.
This is the first time research has been done on this population, commonly known as "shrimp crawfish" by fishermen for the way they bury themselves in the mud like a shrimp would.
Lutz said he has cooked some of them, and they peel and taste like traditional crawfish, with one difference.
"With the traditional crawfish, a lot of the weight you are paying for is in the claws and in the head," he said. "This animal has a large proportion of tail to its body, and its claws are fairly small, so you get a little more bang for your buck."
Provided they do taste like traditional crawfish, local people in the seafood business said they think people would embrace the new species of crawfish.
"I haven't heard about them, but people would eat them, I'm sure, depending on how they taste," said George Simms, owner of Robbie G's restaurant in Alexandria.
"We have people who call for crawfish year round, especially visitors who don't know exactly when the season is," said Jimbo Thiels, owner of Tunk's Cypress Inn on La. Highway 28 West. "That would eliminate that kind of situation and let those people have their crawfish. And we have local people who would certainly love to have them year round."
There are doubts that the new crawfish, even if there is a substantial market for them, will approach traditional crawfish in popularity.
Thiels acknowledged that many Louisianans "have a clock inside their head that tells them it's time to start eating crawfish," and a season that falls outside the internal clock might throw some people off. Tom Pentecost of Tom's Seafood agrees.
Louisiana researchers cooking up a second crawfish season | thetowntalk.com | The Town Talk
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