Rusty in Tooth and Claw

Apologies to Tennyson...

This was a strange and serendipitous photo with a little bit of a story.  My brother and I took a trip to Jay's Sporting Goods one day last week and stopped at the Little Manistee River along the way, so that he could show me where to gather rusty crayfish, should I want to make etouffee or simply have a crayfish boil. These crayfish are an invasive species and the Conservation Department has asked for help controlling the aggressive creatures that are displacing native species. There were hundreds of them in the area and they were fascinating to watch dart among the rocks.

I have to agree that they were, indeed, aggressive! The big one toward the upper right of the picture was stalking the smaller fellow trying to hide under the rock in front of it. It finally caught the little guy and carried it off triumphantly in its claws. There's another small one in the middle of the picture and a bunch of minnows off to the left.

So, where's the serendipity? The photo was completely blind luck, since the sun was shining so brightly I couldn't see anything but my reflection in the view finder. I thought I'd try anyway and got one decent picture out of the batch. 

I tend to cheer for the underdog (who lost the fight in this case), but watching the workings of nature is always interesting - even when I wince at the outcome.