Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Plastic crayfish, crawfish, crawdad, escrevisse!

Plastic Crawfish Toy

Our Plastic Crayfish

Call it a crayfish, crawfish, or crawdad, this engaging, somewhat realistic-looking plastic crayfish is soft and flexible. It's made of bright, almost-day-glo orange rubbery plastic and is about the size of a real crayfish. It floats and it also can be filled with water to use as a squirting crayfish lawn or bath toy. It would make great table decorations at a crayfish festival or outdoor barbeque. It can also be used as a demo for a class project about crayfish or crustaceans. The underside is moulded with realistic shapes as is the top. Check out our other crayfish toys and gifts.

About Crayfish

The crayfish (also called crawfish, crawdad, and sometimes mudbug) is a smaller crustacean somewhat resembling the lobster, to which it is related. Crayfish live in fresh running water and are not very tolerant of pollution. There is an invasive species of crawfish (red swamp crawfish, red swamp crayfish, Louisiana crawfish or Louisiana crayfish) which lives in the Southeastern United States and is more tolerant of polluted water. The red swamp crawfish can become a pest when it appears in great numbers. It stands taller on its feet than the typical crayfish, and uses the ends of its claws to stand on. Crawfish prefer running fresh water in a location sheltered as much as possible from preditors. Crayfish in general survive best in climates where the water doesn't freeze clear to the bottom. They are prized by many for food. I once had some as pets, as we found them in the irrigation systems in Southern California. I was probably allowed to keep them in a big tub of water for a few days before we ate them. When you pick them up, you have to hold them behind the claws. I can tell you from experience that the claws can deliver quite a pinch if you let them reach your fingers! The word "crayfish" comes from the Old French word escrevisse. Although several species of crawfish live in many countries in the Norhtern and Southern Hemispheres, the reason we might associate this animal with our state of Louisiana is because 90 percent of the crawfish in the world come from that state, and 70 percent are consumed there. 70-80 percent of crawfish produced in Louisiana are red swamp crawfish with the remaining 20-30 percent being white river crawfish. As you can imagine, there are many tasty recipes for this freshwater relative of the lobster!

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