Crayfish Key Terms

Learn crayfish terms for better business transactions

By Gail_Roberts

Crayfish, also called crawfish, crawdads and mudbugs, are freshwater creatures that look like small lobsters. There are many key terms you should be familiar with when entering into any type of crayfish business, including restaurants, crayfish farming, shipping or reselling. You'll need to know the length of seasons of live crayfish and how they are shipped, some popular types of crayfish such as the Red Swamp crayfish, the classification of crayfish, behaviors of crayfish like burrowing and significant events having to do with crayfish, like crayfish boils.

Crayfish season

Crayfish are not always available live all year long. The typical live crayfish season for crayfish in Louisiana is from January through June, although some years it can start as early as November and end as late as July.
Try: Cajun-Shop.com goes into more detail about Louisiana crawfish seasons.

Crawfish boils

Crawfish boils are popular events where friends and family gather to boil and serve crawfish.
Try: Kyle LeBlanc Crawfish Farms provides more detailed information on crawfish boils, including the most popular times of year that they occur. Make sure to stock up on crawfish during these times.

Crustacean

Crayfish are crustaceans. Crustaceans are a class from the largest animal group on Earth, the arthropods, which means they have segmented bodies with six legs or more. Crustaceans have a hard outer shell and two pairs or antennae.
Try: Find lots more information about crustaceans, including crayfish, from the Oceanside Meadows Innstitute for the Arts and Sciences.

Red swamp crayfish

The most popular type of crayfish in the United States is the red swamp crayfish.
Try: The University of Arkansas provides information on the red swamp crayfish. Check out photos of red swamp crayfish at Jungle Mouse.

Burrower

Most crayfish are burrowers: they live some part of their lives confined in burrows they excavate. There are three types of burrowers -- primary, secondary and tertiary, depending on how much of their lives are spent in burrows.
Try: Find more information on crayfish burrowers at the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. TheFishSite provides more details on the burrowing of crayfish.

Live delivery

Crayfish suppliers will usually guarantee live delivery of crayfish, which ships refrigerated in dry ice, during crayfish season, as long as the customers follow certain guidelines.
Try: For an example of a live delivery guarantee, check out Worm Man's Worm Farm, a company that sells many live animals including crayfish. Authentic Louisiana Seafood ships live crayfish airport to airport.