Female mutant crayfish clones sold as pets now in Canada

[Patroklos]

The quintessential boil, however, is as Broomstick described. Sucking the heads is also a thing.

[Elheru Aran]

Think of them as supersized shrimp - however you prefer to consume shrimp, you can do the same dish with them.

They're a bit harder shelled than shrimp though. But yes, effectively pretty similar.

The standard procedure for crawfish is a Louisiana boil-- lots of spices and whatnot in water, boil, dump in a bunch of live crawdads with some corn on the cob and potatoes. Once they're done to a turn, drain, dump in a big bowl, and have at it. You hardly see anything different in the US at least. In Houston and maybe a few areas along the Gulf, some people do try to do them differently-- often Vietnamese or other SEAsian immigrant communities. Apparently 'Viet-Cajun' crawfish are a thing in Houston.

Shrimp in comparison get a LOT more options. Fry, boil, grill, pasta, whatever.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

They deep fry grandad too. More of a New Orleans thing, though.

[Jaepheth]

Wouldn't giving up sexual reproduction make this species a prime target for viruses?

[Patroklos]

You hardly see anything different in the US at least. In Houston and maybe a few areas along the Gulf, some people do try to do them differently-- often Vietnamese or other SEAsian immigrant communities. Apparently 'Viet-Cajun' crawfish are a thing in Houston.

Come now, crawfish etouffee is a very popular preparation. Its also a common pasta ingredient, though not as common as shrimp by a long shot.

[Eulogy]

Wouldn't giving up sexual reproduction make this species a prime target for viruses?

You'd think that, but then again a tribble-species that is delicious is going to be kept around for a long time.

[Sea Skimmer]

Wouldn't giving up sexual reproduction make this species a prime target for viruses?

It does, but it also takes away a lot of the social contact vectors that the thousands of harmless viruses every species if full of use to spread, and if they don't spread they don't evolve as fast to randomly become dangerous pathogens. That mitigates part of the risk, at least if you are talking about dozens or hundreds or thousands of years vs millions for evolution. More then one species reproduces part of the time without sex, including several species of shark, lizard and snakes, though I don't believe any animal above the microscopic scale does so exclusively in nature.

it's the same thing as inbreeding really, if you don't start out with bad traits or an existing virus you may be able to get away with it for a long time before the odds catch up. If you have humans maintaining physically segregated populations you can go even longer.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Wouldn't giving up sexual reproduction make this species a prime target for viruses?

It does, but it also takes away a lot of the social contact vectors that the thousands of harmless viruses every species if full of use to spread, and if they don't spread they don't evolve as fast to randomly become dangerous pathogens. That mitigates part of the risk, at least if you are talking about dozens or hundreds or thousands of years vs millions for evolution. More then one species reproduces part of the time without sex, including several species of shark, lizard and snakes, though I don't believe any animal above the microscopic scale does so exclusively in nature.

it's the same thing as inbreeding really, if you don't start out with bad traits or an existing virus you may be able to get away with it for a long time before the odds catch up. If you have humans maintaining physically segregated populations you can go even longer.

Incorrect, there are several species of whiptail lizard that reproduce exclusively through parthenogenesis.