Yup, Those Were Crawdad Claws On Chicago Beaches

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CHICAGO (WBBM) - Anybody who was walking along the lake near the Montrose Dog Beach a week or so ago, before all the snow started, could easily hav seen dozens if not hundreds of what looked like crab claws in the sand.

"I believe those are from a rusty crayfish, that has been an invasive species in much of the Great Lakes region."

George Parsons is director of fishes at the Shedd Aquarium.

"They don\'t really have any natural predators up in this region, so that\'s one of the reasons they get fairly large. They get to be about 6 to 8 inches long, when you spread their tail."

Parsons says the crayfish are brought here from Kentucky or Ohio as bait.

And he says the dropoff in the lake\'s temperature, which came especially early this year, may have caused a lot of the crayfish to die.

The last part to degrade is the claw.

And yes, Parsons says, the crayfish are edible.

"People actually do eat crayfish all over. It may take you a couple of days to get a good batch of crayfish together, but you can certainly do it."