This site celebrates the Crawdad ..
Our delicious little friends from the water.
Crawdads which are also know around the world as crayfish,
yabbies, and mudbugs are first cousins to the lobster.
They are a part of the super-families Parastacoidea and
Astacoidea. The oldest parastacodiea fossil that has been
found on record is 115 million years old. It is unusual
to find a crawdad fossil more than 30 million years old.
They breathe through feather-like gills and can be found
in many parts of the world, most commonly the United States
where over 330 species can be found. In fact, Louisiana
is known for crawdad catching because it sets into production
90 percent of the crawdads that are found in the United
Crawdads live in water that will not freeze at the bottom
which is commonly a stream or brook where fresh water
is running. They cannot tolerate polluted water at all
and tend to feed off of plants and living/dead animals
Typically, crawdads are used to catch bigger fish but
are not considered the best bait since they can fall off
very easily. For a suitable companionship, crawdads can
be used to catch large-mouth bass, channel catfish, pike
fish and muskie.
Crawdads are enjoyed all over the world as far as their
taste is concerned but just like with lobsters there are
minimal parts that can actually be safely eaten. Typically,
the crawdads tail is served when it comes to soups and
bisques though the claws can be boiled and pulled apart
which exposes a lot of meat.
Various countries eat their crawdads differently such
as boiling it with multiple seasonings like in Mexico
where crawdads are called acocil and were a very essential
value where nutrition was concerned in ancient times.
It can also be smoked or sun-dried like it is Nigeria
or steamed whole with hot chili and sichen pepper like
it is in China. No matter how it is cooked it is very
popular in many countries.
If you don't want to eat them, then perhaps you will want
to keep them as a pet. Crawdads can be entertaining pets;
however they are very shy and can stay hidden under rocks
and plants. They eat smaller fish, tropical fish, regular
fish food and shrimp pellets. They can climb out of the
tank if there is no lid.
They are neat little creatures and kids love to catch
them, throw them back and catch them again!