Meet the Crayfish
Crayfish have observable structures such as legs, eyes, antennae, carapace,
swimmerets, tail, pincers, and mouth parts.
Crustaceans – crayfish are a crustacean. This is a class of mostly aquatic animals
that have hard, flexible shells, jointed legs, and two pairs of antennae.
Bristles – the short hairs on the crayfish that help them sense things in their
environment.
Carapace – the main body shell of crustaceans.
Swimmerets – small, leglike structures under the tail. The females have long
swimmerets that hold onto their eggs, the males have short swimmerets.
Pincers – the big jointed leglike structures in the front of the crayfish. These are
used by the crayfish for defense and for feeding.
We found that crayfish do not have ears. Rather they have structures which help
them sense vibrations.
Crayfish do not have lungs. They breathe through gills.
Crayfish molt, which means that they slide out of their old, hard shell as their
body grows.
We can tell the female from the male crayfish by looking for the egg pore on the
underside of her carapace. She will also have long swimmerets. The male has
short swimmerets and two modified swimmerets on the underside of his
carapace.