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Distribution and abundance of the Louisiana red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii Girard at Lake Naivasha, Kenya between 1987 and 1999

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Lake Naivasha, Kenya

Abstract

The abundance and habitat distribution of Procambarus clarkii, an exotic herbivore at Lake Naivasha, Kenya, was studied between 1987 and 1999. Its growth and morphometrics were similar to other locations in the world where the species have been studied. P. clarkii was found primarily amongst the floating, exotic vegetation where it achieved densities of over 500 m−2 by the end of the study. It is suggested that these densities became possible because the habitat offers protection against predation and an adequate food supply of bacterial-enriched detritus exists in the absence of green plant material. Both adults and juveniles forage on the lake bed at night.

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Correspondence to David M. Harper .

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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Harper, D.M. et al. (2002). Distribution and abundance of the Louisiana red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii Girard at Lake Naivasha, Kenya between 1987 and 1999. In: Harper, D.M., Boar, R.R., Everard, M., Hickley, P. (eds) Lake Naivasha, Kenya. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 168. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2031-1_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2031-1_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6272-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2031-1

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