#CrayWeek
Welcome to CrayWeek 2026! 🦞
Around 400 crayfish species across the US. Nearly half threatened by development, pollution, or human activity.

This week we are celebrating their outsized role in freshwater ecosystems. Follow along!
August 4, 2026 at 2:45 AM
Crayfish burrows are not just homes for crayfish. 🦞

Vulnerable species like the Hine’s emerald dragonfly and the crawfish frog depend on them for shelter, water, and survival.

Protecting crayfish means protecting an entire ecosystem beneath our feet.

#CrayWeek #Crayfish #HinesEmerald
August 5, 2026 at 3:40 PM
I almost missed #CrayWeek but I’m in under the wire! Here are a few of my favorite species that are native to Kentucky that we work on in my lab: Rusty Crayfish, an undescribed Faxonius, Phallic Crayfish, Bottlebrush Crayfish. 🧪🌱
August 12, 2023 at 6:02 PM
Happy #CrayWeek to all who celebrate🦞 While invasive crayfish pose serious risks, native species are key players in balancing freshwater ecosystems. They’re eco engineers, bioindicators, and an important food source for fish, birds, otters, and raccoons (ahem, Jimothy)! #Mudbugs #greatlakes
August 6, 2026 at 7:14 PM
A crayfish taco? ¡Que delicioso! Too bad we'd have to travel to China to find one with Taco Bell's special 13-spice crayfish sauce... #CrayWeek @tacobell

https://buff.ly/2M40u59
November 24, 2024 at 11:44 AM
Australia was a smidge too early to #CrayWeek. In July, @auspost released a set of three stamps featuring native crayfish, created by noted underwater artist Roger Swainston: https://buff.ly/2SBoWij

Your move, @USPS.
November 24, 2024 at 3:21 AM
Crayfish...you love 'em, you catch 'em, you research 'em, you take photos of 'em, you munch 'em.

Here's a recipe round-up to help make your next crawdad boil a finger-licking success! https://buff.ly/2Z0Pbo9 #CrayWeek
November 24, 2024 at 2:58 AM
A tremendous, claw-clacking round of applause to all the cray-ficionados who joined in on #CrayWeek! Thanks for your photos, facts, and enthusiasm ❤️❤️

h/t to @DoctorZen @DrCrayfish @mgglon @SolomonRDavid @ERLarsonLab @ichthyprof @SeaGrant ...

Pic: http://bit.ly/2MqosaZ
November 24, 2024 at 11:24 AM
It's #CrayWeek! Read the @MichiganRadio article that inspired us to dedicate this week to our fave crustaceans: http://ow.ly/oNEx30dY5Eo
Tiny lobsters of doom: Why this invasive crayfish is bad ...
A couple weeks ago, this guy in Kalamazoo County saw some...
ow.ly
November 24, 2024 at 9:41 PM
Today's #CrayWeek fact: Crayfish tastes so much like Maine lobster that a NY eatery put cray in their lobster salad--and no one noticed!
November 24, 2024 at 9:33 PM
For your #CrayWeek reading, here's @MSUExtension Educator Mary Bohling's throwback piece about red, swampy invaders: http://ow.ly/bsLm30e6MEB
National Invasive Species Awareness Week: Red swamp crayfish
This invasive can be a host for parasites and diseases an...
ow.ly
November 24, 2024 at 9:33 PM
#CrayWeek fact: Where can you find a 15-inch-long, 8-pound crayfish? Australia, naturally! #EverythingIsWeirderInAustralia
November 24, 2024 at 9:25 PM
#CrayWeek may be ending, but our #craylove never will. High-fives and claw snaps to everyone who joined in! Photo: http://bit.ly/2uro5Tr
November 24, 2024 at 9:25 PM
We love red swamp crayfish--when they're swimming around in their native southern creeks! Not when 2,000 pounds of 'em are being illegally trucked through Michigan to the Canadian border: https://buff.ly/2NQkW9Z #crayweek #notMIspecies #AIS
November 24, 2024 at 11:51 AM
#CrayWeek What makes red swamp crayfish such resourceful invaders? For one thing, they can walk several miles over dry land in search of water. And that's a #crayfact!
November 24, 2024 at 11:50 AM
#CrayFact Who wore it better? Definitely the stage-stealing Cherax pulcher, a gorgeous cray whose native range may consist of a single stream system in Indonesia. #CrayWeek

Photo: https://buff.ly/2AhKKKc
November 24, 2024 at 11:44 AM
What should you do if a red swamp crayfish -- or any other invasive species -- sidles into view? Report it to MISIN, the Midwest Invasive Species Information Network! Find their reporting tool and phone app: https://www.misin.msu.edu/ @MidwestInvasive #CrayWeek
November 24, 2024 at 11:44 AM
BONUS #Crayfact: Australians commonly call crayfish "yabbies," which comes from "yabij" in the Aboriginal Wergaia language. #CrayWeek
November 24, 2024 at 11:44 AM
A linguistic #crayfact journey: The word "crayfish" comes...
from Old French "escrevisse"...
from Frankish "krebitja"...
from Old Frankish "krebit," or crab...
from Proto-Germanic "krabitaz"...
from Proto-Indo-European "greb" or "gereb," meaning to scratch or crawl!
#CrayWeek
November 24, 2024 at 11:37 AM
Toughie the crayfish dodged death in Vermont, only to be sequestered in a Burlington newsroom in a case of mistaken cray-dentity. We look forward to reading Toughie's gritty memoir when it hits the shelves next spring: https://buff.ly/2Otg7o6 #CrayWeek @NicoleHDeSmet @bfp_news
November 24, 2024 at 11:37 AM
In the past, crayfish calcium bombs (aka gastroliths) have been used by humans to plug holes in teeth, calm upset stomachs, and "treat" everything from syphilis to bladder stones to the plague. #crayfact #CrayWeek
November 24, 2024 at 11:37 AM
More recently, pharmaceutical companies have sat up straighter at the notion that crayfish research could teach us about mechanisms for moving calcium around in the body -- potentially yielding treatments for osteoporosis and other bone-related conditions. #CrayWeek #crayfact
November 24, 2024 at 11:37 AM
Thrifty #crayfact: Before molting, a crayfish siphons calcium out of its exoskeleton and stashes it in little rocks, called gastroliths, inside its head. After shedding the old shell, the cray recycles the gastroliths to build a new one! #CrayWeek

Photo: https://buff.ly/2AhVRD5
November 24, 2024 at 11:31 AM
Step aside, James Franco--this stalwart crayfish didn't need 127 hours to make its sacrificial bid for freedom: https://buff.ly/2HdCeKp #CrayWeek
November 24, 2024 at 11:31 AM
Hang on to your carapace, because it's going to be a wild week of pics, facts, and puns about our favorite freshwater crustacean!

Check out the Twitter moment from last year’s cele-cray-tion: https://twitter.com/i/moments/1025037386970005504?lang=en and join us on the #CrayWeek...
November 24, 2024 at 3:44 AM