(Repost of June 2020 blog) Crayfish are so integrated into California’s aquatic ecosystems that they might be considered as native if you didn’t know their history. But most are the result of introductions as food for people or as forage or bait for game fish. And most California crayfish live in novel ecosystems. These ecosystems have a biota that is a mixture of native and non-native species living in habitats that are highly altered by the continuous actions of people. Crayfish therefore fit right in, feeding on organic matter, algae, dead fish or anything else they can process, and then being eaten themselves by native predators such as otters, herons and pikeminnows, or by non-native predators such as centrarchid (sunfish family) basses and bullfrogs. However, this integration comes at a cost, especially in less-altered waterways.