How to Tell Whether a Galician Crayfish Is Female or Male?

Crayfish are small crustaceans resembling small lobsters. Crayfish are commonly sold as fishing bait, as food and, occasionally, as pets. Knowing the gender of your crayfish can be useful in any of these applications, particularly the third. Fortunately, several key anatomical features differentiate male and female Galician crayfish. Being able to distinguish between swimmerets, the five pairs of filamentous appendages used for swimming, and walking legs, the four pairs of smaller appendages located near the tail, will help you identify them.

Instructions

    • 1

      Grasp the crayfish firmly by its shell, behind the pincers. Flip it over, so that you can look around and behind its legs. The first anatomical features that you should look for are the modified swimmerets, present on males but not on females. The first two male swimmerets are enlarged, and are used to transfer sperm to the female. Female crayfish lack similarly enlarged swimmerets.

    • 2

      Look at the base of the third pair of swimmerets. On the female, you will see certain openings behind the swimmerets, called oviducts. Oviducts look like small, dark holes near the base of the swimmerets.

    • 3

      Look for openings behind the fourth walking legs, situated nearest the tail of the animal. Openings here are generally openings for the vas deferens, on the male crayfish.

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