Abstract

A popular way to prepare and serve crayfish in many markets around the world is to cook the whole animal then allow the consumer to extract the edible portions. To render a more appealing product, crayfish are sometimes placed in depuration or “purging” systems prior to marketing. This process eliminates or greatly reduces digesta in the hindgut, which can be unappealing and particularly offensive if the intestinal wall is ruptured during extraction of the abdominal meat. Purging also aids in clearing the exoskeleton and branchial chambers of mud and debris, which contaminates the cooking water when crayfish are boiled. Research has determined that maintaining Procambarus clarkii in commercial purging systems as a means of holding animals for market can be inefficient due to excessive death loss. Therefore, it has been recommended that purging be used to render a more acceptable product only, and further storage should be accomplished in a cooler under proper conditions. It was determined in this study that mortality during purging (in an immersion system) was affected by: 1) purge duration, 2) loading rate, and 3) size differential of crayfish within groups. Furthermore, it was shown that death loss may be mitigated by decreasing purge duration and loading rate, segregating crayfish by size prior to purging, and increasing the surface area over which crayfish can disperse within the confines of purging compartments.

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