The red swamp crayfish has become a familiar sight in Japan, particularly around ponds, irrigation channels, and rice fields. It is now widespread in the country's rice-growing areas, particularly where established populations have taken hold. Much of Japan's red swamp crayfish population traces its origins to a shipment of roughly 100 crayfish brought to the country in 1927 for a single purpose: feeding another imported animal that Japan was trying to farm for profit.
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