A Kentucky water plant worker found a 10-inch crayfish / Source: WBKO
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - An employee at Bowling Green Municipal Utilities found a little more than they bargained for last week at a water intake plant.
A very large, but dead, crayfish was found inside a water filtration system.
The crayfish measures about 10 inches.
Scientists only know this species to exist in the Barren and Green rivers. The plant pulls water from the Barren River and treats it so that people can drink it.
"So, he saw it - just happened to be serendipitously looking right at that particular moment in time. Instead of getting washed back into the river and gone forever, he saw it, grabbed it, and pulled it out. Then asked us if we wanted to see it. And I assumed, 'Ok, large crayfish. What does that mean?' But when he pulled it out, I was awestruck by the size," said Western Kentucky University Professor, Dr. Steve Huskey.
Huskey says it's the biggest crayfish he's ever seen and that it will probably set a new record for size. It will be the largest in the exhibit it is being sent to.
The specimen will be donated to the Illinois Natural History Survey Museum. It is home to one of the largest crayfish collections in the world.
This crayfish will be its largest specimen among the 90,000 at the museum.
