Dr. Julie Delabbio, professor and director of the Center, located south of Natchitoches on the Red River near Lena, pointed out that the blue crawfish would be rightly called ‘Cajun Blues’. She further said that the other suitable name may be ‘fluer de lis’ crawfish because the blue color is really close to the royal blue color of the French king.”
It is told that NSU staff and students began a research project last summer placing ordinary brown-red Louisiana crawfish in aquaria at the Aquaculture Center. Four months later, more than 60 percent of the crawfish are vivid blue. Delabbio said that their research was not aimed at changing the color of the crawfish. They were investigating whether lengthening the amount of light that crawfish receive each day would make them grow larger or faster. The color change was a complete surprise, said Delabbio.
According to Delabbio there are some species of crawfish which are naturally blue, and on a rare occasion you will find a blue crawfish in a crawfish pond. But 60 percent of the ordinary-colored crawfish in their research study turned blue and continue to stay blue even after they molt. Various explanations offered by other scientists but it is not genetic confirms Delabbio.
