Welcome to Texas Crawdads

Texas Prairie Burrower  (Fallicambarus devastator)

From the Preface of Texas Crawdads

"Crawdads delight children more than any other age group. Given opportunity and enough freedom to explore aquatic places, kids soon find and catch the exciting creatures. Knowing this we set about producing a resource aimed at helping young people-especially the elementary through middle age group-to broaden their experience of crawdads and crawdad catching. We try to help children indirectly, by strengthening and supporting the knowledge of their mentors. This book, then, is written primarily to those desiring to help children learn about crawdads, freshwater habitats, and life itself. We also write to a more general readership, to those among us who find pleasure in the experience of natural things. Additionally, because crawdad books are not often written, we integrate a synoptic presentation of scientific information to assist serious students and professional biologists."

Table of Contents

Introduction, Crawdad Examination (Anatomy), Where Crawdads Live (Habitat), Crawdad Life (Life Cycle), Crawdad Names (Scientific and Common Names), Crawdad Identification, Variety of Appearance, A Guide to Texas Crawfishes, Cambarellus, Cambarus and Fallicambarus, Faxonella, Orconectes, Procambarus, Crawdad Distribution, Catching Crawdads from Open Waters, Catching Crawdads from Burrows, Observing Crawdads in the Natural Setting, Planning Crawfishing Trips, Talkin’ Crawdad (The Lingo Spoken by the Serious Crawdadder), What’s That? (other creatures commonly encountered while crawfishing), Live Collections, Keeping Crawfish for Display, Hobby Growing, Crawfish as Fish Bait, Photographing Crawdads, Drawing Crawdads, Reference Collections, Commercial Production, Crawfish Cooking, Texas Crawfishes: Scientific Studies, List of Texas Crawfishes, Literature Cited, English and Metric Units, List of Subgenera, Tips for Crawfish Conservation, County Locator, Index