Page 41 - South Mississippi Living - February, 2021

Now, most people buy crawfish either already boiled or live ones they can boil at home. Boiling and eating the native crustaceans makes an excellent springtime tradition that thrives on the Gulf Coast. Of course, people can also order boiled crawfish in many South Mississippi restaurants during the season.
“Crawfish are everywhere in Mississippi, which is probably in the top five states in the country for the number of different species,” reports Dr. Robert L. Jones, a Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks biologist. “Many people on the Pacific Coast also eat crawfish, but those are in a completely different family from Mississippi crawfish.”
Most Mississippi mudbug connoisseurs probably only recognize two crawfish types – live or boiled! People
in Mississippi and across the South normally eat three species: red swamp and two species of white river crawfish. All three species naturally occur in Mississippi.
“I’ve known people who spent their entire lives in Mississippi,” comments Dr. Susan B. Adams, an aquatic ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service. “I’ll ask them how many crawfish species are here and they usually say ‘one.’ We don’t have an exact number of species in the state, but it’s probably about 63. Red swamp and white river crawfish occur all over the state, but are most common
in the Delta Region and along the coast. Many crawfish species only occur in Mississippi and nowhere else in the world.”
The biggest and most popular species in Mississippi
for eating, red swamp crawfish grow a little larger than white river crawfish. Swampers generally show more reddish coloration than white river crawfish. Red swamp crawfish naturally range from northern Mexico across the Gulf Coast to the Florida Panhandle and north up the Mississippi River drainage to Illinois and Ohio.
White river crawfish typically make up about 20 to 30 percent of the more than 150 million pounds of mudbugs consumed annually along the Gulf Coast. As their name indicates, white river crawfish look lighter in color with longer, narrower claws than their red swamp cousins.
The two species share the same habitats with overlapping
Harvesting craw sh.
ranges. White river crawfish range from east Texas to Alabama and northward up the Mississippi River Valley.
Red swamp and white river crawfish live in freshwater systems like rivers, ponds, lakes, marshes and swamps. People can also find them in roadside ditches. These species occasionally dig holes to reach water during dry periods.
However, some species spend most of their lives underground. In Mississippi, people often see “crawfish chimneys” sticking up in their backyards or other places with moist soil. Dubbed “primary burrowers,” these crawfish push wet dirt above the ground to make mud cylinders. Burrowing crawfish infrequently show up in platters of boiled crawfish and look completely different from either red swamp or white river crawfish.
Whether bought or caught, for a special occasion or just because, at home or in a restaurant, sitting down to eat
a steaming mess of mudbugs always makes a delicious spring tradition.
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net
February 2021 | 41
White River Crawfish
Red Swamp Crawfish