Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it’s not hard – you can dissect a crayfish right at home using an inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.
In today’s dissection, we’ll be looking at a crayfish. Crayfish are members of the phylum Arthropoda. There are many things that make crayfish interesting: they dwell at the bottom of streams, rivers, and ponds; they feed on just about anything that comes their way (that’s why they’re called freshwater scavengers); and they have many appendages that help them save energy.
Materials
- Crayfish (click if you need the whole kit, or just the crayfish)
- Dissection tools
- Dissection guide