30 cool facts to help you prepare for crawfish season - Crawfish season is upon us. To celebrate it, here are some interesting facts about this fascinating symbol of Cajun culture.

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Native land - These freshwater crustaceans are native to every continent except Africa and Antarctica.

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Nomenclature - These crustaceans are known by many names across the US: crawfish, crayfish, mudbugs, and crawdads are among the most popular. However, don’t call them crayfish in Louisiana. You’ll probably get laughed at.

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New Orleans tradition - Before 1951, no one but working-class migrants from the countryside ate crawfish in New Orleans, as the little crustaceans were considered unfit for their urban lifestyle.

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Louisiana production - Fast forward six decades, Louisiana now produces 90% of all crawfish consumed in the US.

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Crawfish lover states - Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Carolinas also harvest crawfish for human consumption.

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Early production - The first record of a commercial crawfish harvest in the state was in 1880.

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Production progression - The Pelican State had 10,000 acres of crawfish farms in the 1960s. By 2007, that number had skyrocketed to 160,000 acres.

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Louisiana production - Louisiana produces between 120-150 million pounds of crawfish every year. That's the equivalent weight of three Boeing 737 together.

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Farm-raised vs. wild - About 88% of crawfish production in the US is farm-raised, while wild production accounts for about 12%.

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Crawfish and rice - Natural vegetation and fauna don’t provide enough food for swamp crawfish, so they attack rice fields. For years, rice farmers fought the animals off.

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Crawfish and rice - Now, rice farmers use the crop to raise crawfish for sale.

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Invasive species - China still has issues with crawfish causing destruction to rice farms.

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Lifespan - Crawfish reaches full maturity at 4 years old.

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Lifespan - In the wild, crawfish can live up to 30 years.

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Lifespan - In captivity, crawfish only live up to 2 years.

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Handy skills - Crawfish can grow their legs and claws back if they lose them.

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True Americans - Crawfish will eat nearly everything, but they seem to have a sweet spot for hot dogs. Google "crawfish eating hot dog" and let Youtube drag you down the rabbit hole.

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Economy - Crawfish’s annual contribution to Louisiana’s economy reaches $300 million.

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Economy - About 7,000 people’s livelihood directly depend on crawfish.

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Change of clothes - Crawfish can shed their shells up to 15 times in their lifetimes. The process is called molting.

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Growth - With each molt, crawfish almost double in size.

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Myth - The belief that straight-tailed crawfish were dead before they were boiled, and therefore unsafe for consumption, is a myth.

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Freshness test - The best way to determine whether a crawfish is fresh is by biting into the tail meat. If it’s mushy, don’t eat it.

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Family - Louisiana is home to more than 30 species of crawfish, but red swamp crawfish and white river crawfish are the most commonly sold species commercially.

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Academic interest - A person who studies crawfish is an astacologist.

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Season - Crawfish season varies from year to year, depending on rain and other factors, but it generally starts in late January and runs through July.

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Eating habits - Crawfish eat at night.

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Competition - Between 2009 and 2016, Major League Eating held a crawfish-eating competition in New Orleans. 2016’s winner downed 2.6 lbs of crawfish in 10 minutes.

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Breeding - Crawfish females breed in the winter when food is scarce. This means that they survive by metabolizing the meat in their tails, which are nearly always empty when emerge from their burrows in the spring.

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Largest species - Australia’s Tasmania is home to the largest crawfish species in the world, the Tasmanian giant freshwater crawfish, which can reach 7 lbs in weight. (Photo: CC BY 2.0)

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