BATON ROUGE- With the weather warming up in Baton Rouge, many are celebrating by boiling some crawfish, a Louisiana tradition dating back to precolonial times. However, some are dismayed to find that the past few weeks have seen an increase in price per pound of the crustacean. 
Southeast Louisiana rang in 2018 with record low temperatures, leading many crawfish customers to blame the price hike on the weather. I spoke with LSU aquaculture scientist Dr. Greg Lutz to find out if this was really the case, and he assured me that mudbugs are tougher than we think.
When the mercury drops, crawfish go into a state of suspended animation, where they remain still and dramatically slow down their breathing. By doing this, they are able to survive temperatures much colder than the ones Louisiana experienced this winter. 
While crawfish around the state wake up from their pseudo-hibernation, farmers aren’t able to gather as many as usual. But there’s no need to worry: even though this creates a temporary shortage, the animals will eventually continue their normal life cycles. The owner of a local pond told me to expect a normal, productive season later on.
Unfortunately, there may be a hidden danger lurking in the water. Dr. Lutz explained that “white spot virus”, a disease that is fatal to crawfish, has  shown up in Louisiana ponds in the last ten years. It hasn’t presented a major problem yet, but research done on outbreaks in other locations suggests that the spread of the disease is accelerated by temperature fluctuations.
This winter is the most extreme that researchers have seen since the first appearance of the disease in Louisiana. Therefore, there is a chance that local ponds may be in serious danger.   
This may be a scary thought for seafood enthusiasts, but since the possiblity of a white spot virus outbreak is just that– a possibility– there’s no reason to panic about crawfish prices…yet.