Crayfish

Crayfish also are known as “crawfish,” “crawdads,” “mudbugs,” and, in France, écrevisses. In 1887, George Brown Goode wrote about this freshwater crustacean as follows: “Although fresh water crayfish are very abundant in any portions of the United States, they are seldom used as food, and, in fact, there appear to be only two regular markets for their sale, New York and New Orleans. One of the principal uses to which they are put is for garnishing fish dishes in hotels and restaurants.” Goode reported that crayfish was such an inconsequential fishery that one could not collect statistics on it. It was known, however, that the crayfish appearing in New York came from Washington, D.C., and the Potomac River as soon as the ice was out and from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Crayfish, a close relative of the lobster, were similarly shipped and sold live. “Crayfish are probably more commonly eaten in New Orleans than in any other American city,” Goode observed, “and yet they are seldom seen in the markets there in large quantities.”