I was inspired to write this article after watching an old episode of Survivorman. Les Stroud was in the Australian Outback and had camped in an area with a nice stream that was full of crayfish or what the Australians call Yabbies. Stroud used all of these names but also called them “Freshwater Lobsters.” I’ve heard other people say that, as well. My ears perked up. They certainly look like little lobsters but is that what they are? Are crawfish simply a freshwater version of the lobster?
First, for those of you not in the know (where have you been?), Les Stroud, aka, Survivorman was the person who ignited this survival/bushcraft craze. He inspired many a television show about survival, most of them fake (calling out Bear Grylls), not to mention dozens of YouTube channels. You can watch all of the episodes of Survivorman for free on Les Stroud’s Survivorman YouTube channel.
Now, before I get into the question posed in the article, let’s be sure we are on the same page. I grew up in Mississippi where we called these little water cockroaches crawdaddies, crawdads, or crawfish. I’m not sure, but I think crawdad was the name most frequently used, at least among my folks. Here is a list of names for these miniature lobsters.
Other Names for Crayfish
- Crawfish: Texas, Louisiana (widely accepted name)
- Crayfish: Northern part of the U.S. (another widely accepted name)
- Crawdad: Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas (central and southwestern U.S.)
- Mudbugs: not sure where
- Ditchbugs: they certainly hang out in ditches
- Yabbies: New South Wales, Victoria British Columbia, Australia (according to Les Stroud)
- Koonac: Western Australia
- Gilgie: Western Australia
- Marron: Western Australia
- Redclaw: Queensland
- Nippers: not sure where but they will nip you
- Lobby: not sure where; seems to be short for lobster
- Crawchie: makes sense but I’m not sure where it’s used
- Freshwater Lobsters: yet another name
Are Crawfish Lobsters?
As you can see, Freshwater Lobster is just another nickname for crawfish. It doesn’t mean the people who use it think that the crawfish is truly a lobster, but it does beg the question. Are they? They look like nothing more than a smaller version of a Maine lobster, aka American lobster, Northern Lobster, or Homarus americanus.
Both crawfish and lobsters are crustaceans that are part of the phylum Arthropoda. This means little since the phylum Arthropoda is the largest animal phylum in the world, comprising some 80% of all living animals on Earth.
Both crawfish and lobsters, then, are in the same phylum as beetles, centipedes, horseshoe crabs, insects, and spiders. This doesn’t help us narrow things down.
Crawfish and lobsters are also both crustaceans. Other crustaceans are shrimp, crabs, krill, and, believe it or not, barnacles. Barnacles behave like mollusks but are considered crustaceans, beginning their life as free-swimming creatures more like shrimp. One thing that distinguishes all crustaceans is their antenna.
Lobsters are in the family Nephropidae (sometimes called Homaridae). Freshwater crawfish belong to one of three families, Cambaridae, Parastacidae, and Astacidae. Also sometimes mentioned is an Asian family Cambaroididae but trying to sort out the difference between this and Camaridae got me into a weedy bog that I had a hard time crawling out of, so, I’ll stick with the three big ones. These are all classified based on the part of the world they are found in, but together, they are all crawfish family.
- Cambaridae: the largest family; North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and western Asia
- Pasastacidae: found in the Southern Hemisphere; South America, Madagascar, Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand
- Astacidae: Europe, Western North America, and Western Asia
Both lobsters and crawfish belong to the infraorder called Astacidea. All the astacidea have a distinguishing feature, three claws on the first three sets of their “legs” with the front claws being much larger than the others. They have pincers and they no how to use them! They also have a similar segmented body plan. This doesn’t mean they are closely related. Both animals split off long ago.
You can think of the difference between lobsters and crawfish as similar to the difference between lobster and shrimp or other members of the family. It’s just that crawfish look more similar to lobsters than they do any of the other members. This doesn’t make them brothers from another mother. So, the answer is no, crawfish are not freshwater lobsters.
To make matters more confusing, New Zealanders colloquially refer to the ocean-dwelling “Rock” lobster as a crayfish. The rock lobster is neither a true lobster nor a crayfish!
