The Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't eat Ma Xiaoer? The past of crayfish "conquering" the world...

In August, crayfish is the leader of night markets

The meat is in its prime period

Have you "showed off"?

The "China Crayfish Industry Development Report (2024)" shows that my country's crayfish production will reach 3.161 million tons in 2023, of which the crayfish processing volume will reach 1.4023 million tons, almost accounting for half of the crayfish farming output. This shows how much Chinese people love crayfish.

Workers are screening crayfish. Source: Xinhuanet

However, if we go back 120 years, not to mention ordinary people, even Empress Dowager Cixi could not eat Ma Xiaoer like we do now. How could the "Old Buddha" who was tired of eating the Manchu-Han Banquet not eat Ma Xiaoer? Let me tell you slowly...

Verify your identity

The crayfish used in cooking Ma Xiaoer is a freshwater crayfish, scientifically known as Procambarus clarkii, belonging to the genus Procambarus, family Procambarus, family Crustacea, class Arthropoda. Its native habitat is in North America, and the Gulf Coast and the area near the mouth of the Mississippi River are its main habitats.

Thomas Huxley, a naturalist in Britain, drew a picture of Procambarus clarkii in his book The Crayfish: An Introduction to the Study of Zoology, published in 1896. Source: University of Washington Freshwater and Marine Image Library

Louisiana in the United States has always been considered the "front wave" of eating crayfish in North America. It is said that the original Native Americans would use venison as "bait" and put the bait on the top of a "fishing pole" made of reeds, and then stick the reeds in the water, and the crayfish would "come to the deer" and feast on the reeds.

The Native Americans would come regularly to remove the reeds that were stuck in the water, and by this clever trick they were able to catch a large number of crayfish to feed themselves.

In the mid-18th century, the Cajuns (descendants of French Canadians) came from Canada to what is now Louisiana in the United States and settled along the estuaries where crayfish were abundant. Crayfish began to appear on their menu.

In the late 18th century, some sugarcane plantations in New Orleans, Louisiana began to use small ponds to cultivate crayfish. This is one of the early records of humans "raising" crayfish.

Japan transit station

Crayfish are definitely masters of survival in the local area. They are good at occupying territory in harsh environments, have super nerve regeneration ability, and can repair themselves after their nerve pathways are cut off.

However, most crayfish only live two or three years, and five or six years is considered a "super long standby". Even so, it is impossible for them to complete the intercontinental crossing on their own. Before arriving in China, they first use Japan as a "stepping stone".

The data on Procambarus clarkii in the invasive organisms database of the National Institute for Environmental Studies of Japan shows that Procambarus clarkii was introduced as feed for the African bullfrog in 1927. (Image source: National Institute for Environmental Studies of Japan)

According to the Kanagawa Natural History, on May 12, 1927, a group of crayfish arrived at the Kamakura Edible Frog Farm (now Iwasaki Shimonoseki Disaster Prevention Park) in Kanagawa Prefecture from the United States in beer barrels. These were Procambarus clarkii, or what we now commonly call crayfish, leaving their native area and embarking on a journey to Asia.

At that time, humans did not know that this species, which came in the name of bullfrog bait, would cause a worldwide sensation in the future. However, this time away from home was just an ordinary "outing" in the eyes of crayfish and humans. Crayfish should be most grateful to humans, after all, without the help of humans, they would not be able to open up such a patrol route.

Although crayfish first arrived in Japan, probably because it was used to feed bullfrogs, its meat texture and taste did not conquer the Japanese palate that likes to eat raw seafood. Therefore, for a long time, crayfish were mostly kept as pets for children. The next stop that really allowed it to make its mark was China.

Honghonghuohuo China Station

In 1929, crayfish were introduced into China from Japan. Therefore, even the powerful Empress Dowager Cixi could not eat Ma Xiaoer, because when she was alive, the crayfish used to make Ma Xiaoer, Procambarus clarkii, had not yet come to China.

Initially, crayfish lived as pets. Later, the Chinese showed their talents and invented countless ways to cook crayfish: thirteen spices, braised in oil, spicy, blanched, salted, garlic, pepper and salt...

Crayfish has conquered human appetite with its delicious and chewy meat, and its expansion in central and southern China is unstoppable.

After nearly a hundred years of efforts, the few crayfish that landed in China back then are now growing exponentially.

Studies have shown that the diversity of crayfish populations in Asia (especially China) is low, and only 20 of the 100 populations in the United States were introduced to Japan and then to China. In other words, the grandfather of the Ma Xiao we eat now is the same batch that came out of the United States.

Americans have been eating crayfish for more than 200 years, but the Chinese have surpassed them - China is now the world's largest producer of crayfish. Americans today may not know that the Chinese crayfish they eat in the United States actually originated in the United States.

Travel around the world

Research shows that in the 1960s, a group of crayfish arrived in Uganda from Louisiana, USA, and then were transferred to Kenya, and then their footsteps spread across the African continent; in the same period, crayfish entered Mexico, and in the 1970s they arrived in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other places, and successfully arrived in Brazil in the 1980s... It took crayfish 20 years to complete its cruise route in South America.

In 1973, crayfish swam to Spain. Since the first crayfish landed on the European continent, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom have all become the "second home" of crayfish.

World map of Procambarus clarkii invasion

Captions from top to bottom:

Origin

Invasion route

Main routes reported

Invasion routes confirmed by genetic analysis

A new (genetic-based) invasion pathway is reported

Other hypothesized invasion routes

Where is the next stop?

Since its arrival, crayfish have been listed as an invasive species by some countries and regions. The arrival of crayfish has caused great damage to the local ecology. The native crayfish basically cannot survive for long before they are defeated, so it has the reputation of "killer shrimp".

How to coexist

In the crayfish's travel route, what cannot be ignored is the "assistance" of humans. It is actually a joke for humans to use eating to solve the problem of crayfish invasion.

Japan is currently taking measures to ban the sale or release of crayfish to prevent their proliferation. I hope that smart humans can quickly come up with more ways to coexist harmoniously with crayfish and build a green home on Earth.

In accordance with the Alien Species Act, Japan will designate red-eared turtles and crayfish as "conditionally designated invasive alien species" from June 1, 2023.

References:

https://jeffersonchamber.org/the-history-of-the-crawfish-boil/

https://aitcla.org/crawfish

https://www.airwaysfreight.com/2018/05/21/a-brief-history-of-the-crawfish-boil/

Wikipedia En Ja etc

Yuishi Kawai, Yakichi Kobayashi. The origin of Kamakura City Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Kanagawa Natural History Materials (32): 55-62, Mar. 2011.

Study on the invasion ecology of Procambarus clarkii in China

Unravelling the global invasion routes of a worldwide invader, the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii).

Author: Xiao Qing, former editor of Global Exploration magazine

Qu Qu is a member of the Chinese Science Writers Association and a member of the Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology.

Audit expert: Cheng Huihui

Master of Fisheries, Fisheries Engineer, Licensed Veterinarian of Aquatic Animals

Editor: Dong Xiaoxian