Crayfish Research Paper

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Introduction The crayfish, also known as Cambarus bartonii, are quite known in most countries. There are hundreds of species of crayfish found all around the world in fresh water that is not over polluted, and they bury themselves in muddy environments. Crayfish have an average life span of up to one or two years if they are left in the wild to survive. Many crayfish do not live that long due to the fact that they are used as bait but mainly for food. Just in Louisiana alone there were over 50,000 tons of crayfish caught in 2007, but in no way are these crayfish close to becoming extinct. The most popular species of crayfish found in Louisiana is the Procambarus clarkii also known as the red swamp crayfish. Classification The crayfish’s taxonomic…show more content…
During mating, the female will store the sperm in a receptacle on her underside. The female then builds a burrow close to the water’s edge where her ovary will develop eggs, and the sperm that was stored earlier will then fertilize them. The fertilized eggs will then attach themselves to the swimmerets which are also found on the underside of the female’s tail. This is where they will stay for three weeks. After hatching, the female will emerge from her burrow with all of the new hatchlings still attached to find food. Some of these hatchlings will be unlucky enough to be eaten by their mother. The hatchlings will begin dropping off of their mother and begin the next stage of their life: the molting stage. The young fish will be shedding its exoskeleton multiple times as it grows. Temperature of the water, the amount of oxygen in the water, food availability, and population density will dictate the rate of growth during this stage. After about one year the crayfish will become sexually mature and stop growing. Once maturity is reached the crayfish will take on a darker color and have larger pincers. The males will have hooks at the base of the third and fourth walking legs and, the female will have the receptacle for sperm storage on the underside of their

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