1. A little about CRAYFISH By Sheila Ruffin & Tabitha King

2. Crayfish • Also know as • Crawfish & Crawdads • Members of the superfamilies • Astacodea & Parastacoidea • The are related to lobster

3. Crayfish or Crawdad… • More than half of the more than 500 species occur in North America, particularly Kentucky (Mammoth Cave) and Louisiana in the Mississippi basin.

4. The crayfish common to Kentucky

5. Kentucky's Crayfish

6. Kentucky’s Crayfish

7. Kentucky’s Crayfish

8. What do they look like? • Crayfish are characterized by a joined head and thorax, or midsection, and a segmented body, which is sandy yellow, green, or dark brown in color

9. What do they look like? • The head has a sharp snout, and the eyes are on movable stalks

10. What do they look like? • Crayfish are usually about 7.5 cm (3 inches) long

11. External Anatomy

12. Internal Anatomy

13. Where they live? • Found in freshwater that doesn’t freeze at the bottom like: • Brooks • Underground & Surface Streams • Shallow ponds and lakes • Swamps

14. What they eat? • They feed on living and dead animals and plants • Algae, snails, insects, plants, dead fish. • Their cannibals they will eat other crayfish • Favorite food is soft decomposing plant matter

15. Reproduction • The male and Female

16. Reproduction • They mate in captivity • Eggs are inside the female • they have to mature enough to be extracted • the wait can be days or several months • Males sperm is deposited and stored inside the female • Called a sperm plug • The eggs are fertilized on the way out of the female.

17. Crayfish babies being born

18. THE END!! • HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT!!!