you grab them on the body behind the head to pick them up. They have four pairs of walking legs and little swimmerets under the abdomen. They have both long and short antennae.
Now these critters build themselves a home along the river, And they build a little mud mound by their front door; They sit there and make pretend, and I thought we could catch us maybe 8 or 10 And take’ em home and boil’ em up for our supper.
In high school biology class, I recall dissecting a rather anemic-looking crayfish— a step up on the evolutionary scale from the primitive earthworm. We learned over half of the more than 500 species exist in North America. Most crayfish live in freshwater, but some can live in salt or brackish water. A friend kept a few in his aquarium and showed us the shell, or exoskeleton, that was shed as the crayfish grew.
So we had a plan worked out where we’ d sneak up behind’ em, And scare’ em out into a big ol’ gunny sack. So my friend got on one side, I got on the other. He held the sack and I started into hollerin’, Well them crawdads they ran on down to the water.
Now these crawdads they ran on down to the water, And my friend was still intent on gettin’ us a supper; But they got them pinchers and they go to grabbin’ I turned around and my friend had had it, cuz there was one of them crawdads hangin’ on the end of his nose.
Now crawdad are really good eatin’ and that’ s the truth, But there are some that don’ t like it, they say it’ s uncouth; But them that don’ t like it they ain’ t really tried it, It’ ll make a good supper, there ain’ t no denyin’ it, Why don’ t you try it sometime, crawdads for supper.
During the fall term my band mates and I shared tunes we had learned or written over the summer.
Working on the vocals and harmonies, my crawdad tune was a hit when we played a bar near Kibbe one night. The patrons affectionately called themselves“ river rats.”
In the icthyology classroom, large glass jars held the fish we captured for reference and further study. A bubbling tank in the corner held a few of the crayfish we caught. I smiled as I watched them slowly move on the gravel bottom. •
July / August 2018 • Our Brown County 57