Signal crayfish or Pattes Rouges crayfish in the UK

[cachan]

From what I've read, these crayfish were introduced into the UK from North America in the 1970's for farming but they escaped into the waterways as an invasive species. I think they were supposed to replace the native Euroipean crayfish which were depleted by the crayfish plague caused by a water mould. Are they caught and eaten? Are they on sale or on menus? If not, is it because they can themselves be a carrier of the crayfish plague? Maybe that's the answer.

[Chelseabun]

Gordon Ramsay did an episode on Crayfish in the UK: