Hey there, friends, and welcome to episode 336 of Just the Zoo Bus. This week, I am joined by a scientist

from Louisiana State University for a review of the iconic crustacean known and loved by many

names, The Crawfish. We discuss Sea Hair Inc., a genetically modified supersoldier kaiju battle, the taxonomic classifications

of rocks, bugs, and squishy bags, the perils of growing up under the tail of a cannibal

mom, and so much more. Just the Zoo of Us presents crawfish with Jack Koch.

Music with Jack Koch. Hi there, everybody, it's Ellen Weatherford with just the Zoo of Us, your favorite animal review podcast. I am so excited because this week I get to learn about a critter that is very, like a cultural icon, I feel like almost. It has a really interesting, like, role in people's lives. Like,

I feel like people have very strong positive feelings with this animal, but one that I

know nothing about, which I'm very excited for. This week, we have a brand new friend to tell us

about this animal. This is Jack Koch. Say hi, Jack. Hey, everybody. And Jack, you are coming to us from

pretty much the crawfish capital of the world. Oh, yeah, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This is a place.

Jack, how did you get involved in the research that you do at LSU? Yeah, so I'm an assistant

professor at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, and my background is as a biologist.

So I studied CNNemian symbiosis for my Ph for my PhD and a little bit in my undergraduate.

And after I finished my PhD, I had the opportunity to move to Louisiana to work on an invertebrate called a sea hair.

You may be familiar with them.

Love this.

And the center that I work at, the aquatic germplasm and genetic resources center, we help

protect the genetic resources and germplasm of aquatic species all over the world.

My background is as an invertebrate biologist, so it was natural for me to come work on the

sea airs.

We also work on shrimp,

sea urchins, sea anemones, and obviously crawfish like we'll talk about today. So it's just another animal that needs help protecting what's out there. So a purely boneless, you're doing

...