Crayfish Cloning Poses Threat

[Kymba]

Not sure if this is in the right place

A mysterious self-cloning female crayfish, popular with German aquarium owners, could pose a threat to native European species if it were released into the wild, scientists have claimed. The marbled crayfish, called Marmorkrebs, is probably related to a North American species, although scientists at Humboldt University in Berlin admit they do not know exactly where it originated. They are sure, however, that it can reproduce without mating.
Parthenogenesis, a form of self-cloning, is found in creatures such as snails and water fleas but is unusual in crayfish.
The Marmorkrebs’ ability to produce 20 or more clones of itself in six months could be a danger and a competitor to crayfish in the wild, according to Gerhard Scholtz, a comparative zoologist at the university.
“It might pose a threat to European native crayfish,” he said. Marmorkrebs, which can be bought for about five Euros in Germany, may also be able to transmit a deadly crayfish plague to other less robust species, according to Scholtz, who published his findings in the science journal Nature.
“This crayfish could become a menace to European freshwater ecosystems, as the release of even one specimen into the wild would be enough to found a population that might out-compete native crayfish,” he said in the report

[Kymba]

Do WAB members have opinions on Animal Cloning????

Myself I am totally against it... I hate the Idea of messing with nature in such a way.. Why do we need to Interfere at all ????