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A swamp red crawfish mother, with her babies under her tail. Carrying them this way keeps them safe from predators. |
Every spring I scream, you scream, we all scream for CRAWFISH! We eat them boiled, fried, over rice, and in stew, and CC loves crawfish even in an omelet! Poor little arthropods, not only are they a popular dish for humans, but they are also well known members of the natural “feed” community. Raccoons, bass, otters, snakes, frogs, opossums, perch, catfish, owls, egrets, herons, mink, and many other critters gobble them up regularly!
Crawfish, crawdad, crayfish, and mudbug are just some of the names for this tasty little crustacean that has been both the delight of the gourmet foodie and fare of the lower classes for over 200 years. There are many common names and scores of scientific names for them because 29 species live in Louisiana, and about 100 species occur in the United States. Though they range in size from tiny to large, the relatively big swamp red crawfish, Procambarus clarkii, and white river crawfish, Procambarus acutus, are the only ones of importance that end up on all tables. The “river” type needs the high oxygen content of flowing, turbulent streams, while the “swamp” species (which makes up 90% of the typical commercial harvest) easily tolerates the relatively low oxygen content of stagnant swamp water.
Crawfish begin as one of from 200 to 700 eggs attached to the bottom of a mother’s tail and grow fast. The eggs hatch in about two weeks, and the babies cling to the underside of mom’s tail for protection. When they are big enough to forage on their own, they will drop off. It’s a funny sight seeing all those babies under the tail. CC told me that he had a female crawfish in an aquarium with a small blue gill, a fish in the perch family. The blue gill was too small to eat the mother, so he would try to sneak up on her and get the babies. CC often watched the momma crawfish ferociously try to protect her young with her pincers.
Arthropods are a huge group of critters with their skeletons on the outside of their bodies. The class Insecta (containing all insects) is the largest class of arthropods, but spiders, crabs, and crawfish also belong to the group. Since mudbugs have their hard skeletons on the outside, I asked them how they could grow. The answer was amazing! Have you ever heard of a soft shell crawfish? Many find crawfish in this stage of development a delicacy! When a crawfish runs out of growing room in its shell, it must shed it and grow a new one. As the shell is cast off, the crawfish keeps its shell hardening calcium in the form of two limy pebbles. The now “soft-shelled” crawfish uses its pebbles to help harden the new, larger exoskeleton.
Humans catch annually about a hundred million of pounds of crawfish, especially in the Atchafalaya Basin, to fill their bellies, and very “lucky dogs” get a piece of that action! The other numerous animal species (mentioned earlier) that fancy eating crawfish probably catch many more pounds than that! Louisiana produces 99% of our nation’s home grown crawfish. So, no surprise, we also consume a lot more crawfish than any other state, especially because it has always been an important Cajun French food item. No wonder this critter is named our “state crustacean!”
I learned a lot while interviewing crawfish, and I certainly dressed for the occasion! Click here to see a few more pictures of me in my crawfish hat!
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