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# crayfish

noun (a crayfish; plural crayfish or crayfishes)

«crayfish» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A small freshwater animal like a tiny lobster, with claws, a hard shell and ten legs, living in rivers, streams and lakes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#m1)
2. (UK, Australia, NZ) A name also used for the spiny lobster (rock lobster), a sea animal without big claws; in NZ it is also called «crayfish» or «koura». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#m2)
3. The meat of these animals eaten as food: «crayfish sandwich». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#m3)

### In the lessons

In science lessons on rivers and habitats, crayfish are crustaceans (like crabs and shrimps) and their presence can show clean water. In the UK, the native white-clawed crayfish is endangered because the larger American signal crayfish spreads a disease; people must not move crayfish between rivers. In the southern USA, «crawfish boils» are a Louisiana tradition. Phrases: «freshwater crayfish», «signal crayfish», «crayfish boil».

### Examples

- We found a crayfish hiding under a stone in the stream. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#x1)
- Crayfish have ten legs and two big claws. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#x2)
- The white-clawed crayfish is the UK's only native crayfish. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#x3)
- In Louisiana, people call them crawfish and boil them with corn. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#x4)
- In New Zealand, we ate crayfish caught off the coast. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#x5)
- Crayfish shed their hard shells as they grow. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#x6)
- Herons eat crayfish from the river. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#x7)
- Thus the Old Ritualists will not eat the crayfish (rak), holding that it was created by the Devil. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/#x8)

### Note

Plural usually «crayfish» (the same), sometimes «crayfishes». In the USA, also «crawfish» or «crawdad». It is not a fish; the name comes from an old French word for crab that English speakers changed to sound like «fish». It is a crustacean, not an insect.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «crayfish» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/crayfish/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«crayfish» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/crayfish.html) on Mova free.