Colorado Lobster

[wstein]

hmmm, wondering if there will ever be a market for Colorado crawfish? Tired of waiting until the crawfish season in LA to get them.

 

[RonFrank]

hmmm, wondering if there will ever be a market for Colorado crawfish? Tired of waiting until the crawfish season in LA to get them.

While there are certainly a LOT of Dads in many of the mucky mountain lakes, there is NOT enough for it to become a viable industry.

 

[speedhound]

Colorado Crawfish? Reminds me too much of "Rocky Moutain Oyster"!
Still, they (the Crawfish) do look tasty!!

 

[Tom Winters]

Not to cast a negative note on this, but since crawdads are bottom-scrounging little varmints like lobsters, you might want to get a few checked by your county extension agent to make sure they are not harboring any heavy metals from pollution. This is a problem in a lot of coastal areas from pollution so why should you guys up there in Rocky Mountain oyster-land have it any better?

 

[CON8IV]

Not to cast a negative note on this, but since crawdads are bottom-scrounging little varmints like lobsters, you might want to get a few checked by your county extension agent to make sure they are not harboring any heavy metals from pollution. This is a problem in a lot of coastal areas from pollution so why should you guys up there in Rocky Mountain oyster-land have it any better?

Hey Tom,

Well, if there's that much pollution in that lake, a lot more people than myself are in for a surprise. It's one of the city's water supplies. Very clean, I think, by regional standards, which are pretty good anyway. By the way, cool last name. Mine is Winter. Guess my relatives didn't need the "S".

Thanks for the concern, though.

 

[octotat]

Wow, those bugs are huge. I've taken my share from Colorado's ponds and have been pinched a few times, but nothing with claws like those. I think the saltater purge is a good idea to get rid of mud, I wonder how much salt you can add before it just kills em'.

 

[LAJim]

Heavy metal polution is a different kind of pollution. Since the lake in question is part of the water supply I bet its fine, but otherwise be careful. Since a lot of the west was mined there are places with vast mine tailings on the surface in the watershed. Heavy metals will leech into the water and head downstream. Even though the water looks clean, it could have lead or other contamination. A listing of cities in Colorado reads like the periodic table.

Gold miners in northern California used mercury, thousands of tons of mercury, to separate gold from ore. Most of that mercury is still there. There are some stream beds where you can dig a bucket of mud and separate out a pound of mercury.

The metal forms themselves are not too dangerous, and not too mobile. Various processes make soluble forms (methyl mercury, etc.) that travel through the water column and are bioavailable. I was looking at a nice piece of tuna the other day in a Vons in Pasadena (CA not TX) and saw a stack of brochures about methylmercury hazards in tuna. There is enough of it that pregnant women might want to choose steak instead. Tuna is pretty far up the food chain.

Anyhow I'm a huge etouffe fan and I never thought about this stuff back in Texas when we netted 'dads out of the flood plains of the local rivers.

But it is a theoretical possibility there could be heavy metal contamination in crustaceans in some environments.

Jim

 

[CON8IV]

Since a lot of the west was mined there are places with vast mine tailings on the surface in the watershed. Heavy metals will leech into the water and head downstream. Even though the water looks clean, it could have lead or other contamination. A listing of cities in Colorado reads like the periodic table.

Gold miners in northern California used mercury, thousands of tons of mercury, to separate gold from ore. Most of that mercury is still there. There are some stream beds where you can dig a bucket of mud and separate out a pound of mercury.
Jim

Hi Jim,

There's a bunch of old mines here with tailings piles still yellow and white from the Arsenic that was used to "leach", I think that is the correct term, the gold from the ore, or rock. Yes, I am indeed aware that there are a few rivers or streams close to my home that I would NEVER eat anything out of. The sterile tailings piles are supposedly going to stay that way for another 10,000 years or so. I enjoy telling visitors about the mining history here and showing them the scenery that accompanies these areas. Thankfully, these methods are no longer used, but the old mines, often on four wheel drive trails offer some interesting sight-seeing. I believe what you are saying about the Mercury. The way I see it, the only good Mercury is the one on the back of my boat.