Man spots creature that ‘looks like a lobster’ in Sheffield park
A man walking through a Sheffield park this afternoon (Sunday, October 18) spotted what he thought looked like a lobster.
The creature was discovered swimming in the lake at Crookes Valley Park, which, being fresh water, means that it cannot be a lobster.
It is most likely a crayfish – a freshwater crustacean that resembles a lobster but is smaller.
Crayfish typically inhabit freshwater streams with a depth of less than one metre, much like the area where this one was spotted.
The only crayfish native to the UK is the white-clawed crayfish, which is in decline.
Populations of this crustacean have been falling since 1970s and the introduction of the non-native North American signal crayfish. These are known to carry diseases to which the white-clawed crayfish is not resistant.
Consequently, white-clawed crayfish are classified as ‘endangered’ on the IUCN red list of threatened species and are at risk of global extinction.
Both white-clawed and signal crayfish have been spotted in Sheffield’s waterways.