The common crayfish likes to hide in caves and crevices in the submarine rockface, coming out only at night time to feed. If you swim past these holes, you see a forest of antennae and eyes, the animals will immediately retreat into the dark recesses. From this position, the crayfish is well defended by its heavily spined body and is secured by its strong legs.
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| A crayfish (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Sharks, eels, and large fish often eat crayfish, but it's most deadly enemy is the octopus. If the crayfish is approached by an octopus it will not retreat into a cave because it will become trapped there. The octopus has enough tentacles to cope with the spiny legs and antennae and a strong beak which will easily rip open the crayfish's soft underparts. The crayfish will attempt to reach open water where it can rapidly swim backwards out of danger.
Crayfish, in their turn, feed on small fish, seaweed, urchins, crabs, barnacles and even their own young and cast off moults. Though they usually prefer deeper waters, crayfish tend to wander a lot and may be seen in shallow water seaweeds and rock crevices at low tide.
The crayfish begins as a tiny larva, taking up to 15 months to reach a size of 20 mm and moulting several times. At the next moult the larva changes to resemble a tiny, transparent crayfish about 30 mm long; these are often found clinging to the underside of rocks at low water. It takes another five to seven years before the crayfish becomes mature. The average size of a fully grown adult is about 300 mm.
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