Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters. In some parts of the United States, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mudbugs, or yabbies. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some species are found in brooks and streams, where fresh water is running, while others thrive in swamps, ditches, and paddy fields. Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water. Crayfish feed on animals and plants, either living or decomposing, and detritus. Most North American crayfish, he adds, live no more than three or four years and occasionally grow to 4 or 4 1/2 inches long from the tip of the body to the tip of the tail.
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