Nathan tempts fate with a rusty crayfish Albin is holding on Beaver Creek.

The rusty crayfish is an invasive exotic to the Maumee Watershed, as you might remember the thousands we caught through the week.

An exotic organism is a plant or animal that was not found in an area prior to European settlement of North America. Some exotic species such as Kentucky Bluegrass were introduced by the native peoples crossing from Asia over the Bering Sea Landbridge, but the majority of species infecting North America have come since colonial times.

Some exotic species do not have parasites or predators which allows them to become invasive, and completely over-populate an ecosystem and displace the native organisms.

A native organism, is then an organism that was found in an ecosystem prior to settlement.