Crayfish in the Classroom!

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Crayfish in the Classroom!

• Babies

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Momma Crayfishs Story
Poor Momma Crayfish! What a weekend shes had.
Lately the temperatures have been warming up, and
she thought Spring was in the air.time for
babies! Then - last weekend - A Blizzard!
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• Luckily the snow melted soon, before Mommas
  babies were ready to hatch. She carried them
  close, to keep them safe. Just when the babies
  were ready to hatch

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• Momma Crayfish ended up in someones backyard!
• She was far away from the nearest stream or pond.
  
• How did that happen?

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• No one knows, but last night the backyard looked
  like this!
• Maybe Momma Crayfish walked into the backyard, or
  maybe she was washed in with the flood.

Momma Crayfish needs to be careful, because
everyone knows what happens to crayfish when they
wander in peoples yards . . .
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• Oh no!
• Luckily, Momma Crayfish did not meet this child.
• She saw this instead

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Royal was the one to find Momma Crayfish hiding
in the grass!
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Hey Ms. Suvak a friend of a friends dog just
found a crayfish with babies!

• And because EVERYONE knows Ms. Suvaks classes
  study animals Momma Crayfish was brought to
  town so the class could see how a momma crayfish
  carries her babies with her as they are hatching!

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See the babies!
BABIES
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Crayfish Reproduction

• Males can be told from females by the
  generally larger pincers and narrower tails, but
  these characteristics are not absolute. To tell
  for sure, you must pick them up and look
  underneath. Males have two pairs of modified
  swimmerets (the small leglike appendages under
  the tail) that are white-tipped and lay between
  the last pair of walking legs.
• The females have longer, softer-looking
  swimmerets (for holding the eggs) and a little
  white pore centered between the walking legs.
  Some time after mating the female lays about 200
  eggs, which she carries in a mass under her tail.
  Shes said to be in berry when pregnant!

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Male Crayfish
Head
Head
Female Crayfish
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When the babies are born

• After several weeks the eggs hatch, and a hoard
  of minute, perfectly formed, ravenous baby
  crayfish emerge. At first they continue to ride
  along under the female's tail, eating tiny
  waterborne bits of food, but soon they leave this
  security and head out on their own. During these
  early days many are eaten by fish, insects, and
  other crayfish, but some always survive to
  fulfill their destiny.

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Female in berry and baby crayfish!
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Caring for Babies

• When the eggs hatch it will be even more
  important for there to be  lot of structure in
  the habitat.  Plan to put in a bunch of plants or
  even plastic plants in which the babies can
  hide.  Rocks, pebbles, flower pots, and the like
  are good, too.  The thing you want is lots of
  places for the babies to hide from each other. 
  They are notorious for eating each other.  As you
  know, crayfish are at risk just after they have
  molted, and the little ones love to snack on
  their just molted brothers and sisters.  Thats
  the way it goes in the crayfish world.

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Crayfish Anatomy Lesson
Head
Thorax
Abdomen
Antenna
Carapace
Eye
Swimmerets
Cheliped
Eggs
Walking Feet