Due to the American crayfish plague it has been almost wiped out in Europe and has in many European countries been replaced by the North American Signal crayfish, that is resistent to the plague. This, often illegal, implantations of Signal crayfish has made it very difficult to reintroduce the Astacus in the wild as the Signal crayfish, although resistent, does carry the plague and infects lakes and rivers it inhabits.
The Astacus has been added to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Europe, and in particular in Scandinavia, the Astacus is often considered to be the original and finer, thus more expensive, crayfish.
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