HOLY HOUDINI...IT'S A CRAYFISH!

It has been a crazy cool summer so far...and it's only been a few days!!!  We found the coolest creature by the lake yesterday, but when we did a little research we found out this crazy crustacean is even more exciting than it looks!  I'll tell you more...

We were lifting rocks on the bank of the pond and suddenly, something scurried right out from between two rocks. The mystery creature was grayish black and about the size of a half-used up pencil, but it had two big pinching claws, a long, curved tail and the longest antennae we'd ever seen.  Krumbs let out a huge, high-pitched yelp and jumped about a mile, landing right on top of me. (Nope, he didn't really jump a mile--that was just an expression to build up the drama)

Krumbs and I untangled ourselves super fast so we wouldn't lose this alien creature.  Krumbs said it looked like a grayish black lobster only much smaller, but I was pretty sure it couldn't be a lobster because I thought lobsters live only in salt water.  (We were by a freshwater lake...no salt water in sight).  Krumbs was right about one thing-it definitely looked like a mini-lobster.

We kept the creature for about a half hour, watching it scurry, examining its pinchy claws and using little twigs to see how those crazy claws worked.  It was the coolest animal!  I found out it could move really fast, it's claws could pinch really hard (not on my fingers or Krumb's paws), and it could hide really well.

It wasn't until we came home and did some research that we found out we had found a crayfish!  Once we found out what it was, we visited the Cafe's "Doggy Bag" section to see whether crayfish are listed as under "Creature Features"...and they are!!!!  There was an awesome article called "Crustacean Houdini" that's filled with awesomely cool information about how much a crayfish is like the magical magician, Houdini!  Check it out because we were shocked at how cool this crazy creature really is! 

I couldn't get a picture (no camera again...when will I learn??) but I visited the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Photo Archives and found a photo taken by Gillian Ball that looks just like "our" crayfish.  I posted it for you below:

Isn't it amazing?!?!  Have you ever found crayfish near your house?  We are so excited to find so many cool animals right in our back yard.  What have you found so far this summer?  Let us know and visit us again for more adventures as Krumbs and I live the "late great life of summer"!