Crayfish info needed

Just moved home (again) and have acquired a rather nice garden with at least one other housemate interested in gardening.

In this garden's an iold, neglected pond, covered in duckweed. Our intention was to give his a good clear out, and re-plant it, however today I discovered a crayfish living in there.

Now, I know some are protected, and some are classed as pests, so how do I tell? To make it trickier he's usually covered in duckweed when he comes to the surface, so hard to see clearly.

Any tips on what i should do? I'm happy to leave the pond for him, but not sure whether crayfish need reporting or not.

 

the american signal crayfish must be destroyed as you can't release it into the wild under the country and wildlife 1974 act as its a non native species.
these little blighters are partial to native fish eggs and i believe known to travel over land.

if its a yank signal....crayfish salad yummy

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...iuGPBQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image

 

crayfish are my favourite used to eat them by the bucket full when i lived in usa, pity you didnt have more yummy yummy

 

looks like I'll have to catch him then, no way can he be identified otherwise, just a mass of duckweed with pincers! He's about 4" long, thats all I can see so far

 

sweep the weed to 1 side,pick him up and turn him over,if you see red on the underside of the claws,you have a yank signal.....tuck in and enjoy with a nice fresh salad....they really are tasty:gnthb:

 

He's a Yank! Looks like diner will be served.