BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WTHR) - A giant crayfish found in Kentucky is prompting experts to say it's the largest they've ever seen.
The ten-inch long crustacean is so long, it looks like it could be a lobster! Crayfish, which are sometimes known as "crawdads," average about three inches long, with some species topping out at six inches.
"When I first laid my eyes on this thing, my jaw dropped. I thought he was trying to pull the wool over us and had brought in a lobster from Florida and trying to pawn it off as a crawdad. It's absolutely enormous," said Western Kentucky University biology professor Steve Huskey.
A utility worker found the crayfish dead inside the water filtration system at an intake plant in Bowling Green. Huskey reached out to the Illinois Natural History Survey, which has a collection of over 90,000 crustaceans.
Huskey said the crayfish, which he plans to preserve, is six millimeters - about a quarter of an inch - longer than any other in the Illinois collection.
