Crayfish are crustaceans. That means they have a hard outer shell. Crayfish are cold blooded animals, so their body temperature changes with the temperature of their environment. They breathe with gills, just like fish. They can grow to an average size of 1-3 inches. there are 540 species of crayfish worldwide. Some crayfish are deep red in color with a black stripe on the stomach. Younger crayfish are gray with black wavy lines. Other colors of the crayfish are pink, white, red, black and green. Four antenna help the crayfish feel, taste and smell. A crayfish's body grows, but the exoskeleton doesn't. When a crayfish outgrows its skeleton, a new one grows underneath and the old one comes off. This is called molting.

Habitat Crayfishlive in places where there is water. During the day, the crayfish hide under stones, plants, or other things found in the water because they like to keep cool. Crayfish like to stay by the edges of the water. Some crayfish dig burrows into the beds or banks of ponds and streams. You will often see them on warm, humid evenings when they leave their tunnels and move around on the surface of the ground. Crayfish are found all over the world except Africa and the Antarctic.

Life Cycle Crayfish reproduce in the spring. The female crayfish cleans the bottom of her abdomen with its legs. Then she covers the underneath of her body with something like glue. She lays on her back and bends her abdomen forward to lay eggs. The eggs attach to the swimmerets. Now the crayfish is called "in berry" because the eggs look like tiny berries. The female will shake and swim around to move water over the eggs to give them oxygen. The eggs hatch when the crayfish is in warm water. it takes about 2 weeks for the eggs to hatch. The babies have big eyes when they're born. They look like their parents, but the little crayfish don't have bright colors like their parents. Their mom stays in her burrow to protect her babies. If there is danger coming, she whips her tail around and hides her babies under her abdomen. The babies are called "in stars". They are also called "2nd in stars" and "3rd instars" as they get bigger. The baby crayfish molt lots of times before they leave their mother and swim to shallow water. These animals can live for 3 years or longer.