Observe the insects on display. Tips for Dissection Crayfish are relatively easy to dissect. Many of you have had ample practice dissecting them at Jazz Fest. Your first task is to determine whether you have a male or female crayfish. Turn the animal on its back, and examine the area of the thorax where the legs join the body.
Female crayfish have a circular opening, like a tiny doughnut, which is their seminal receptacle .
These modified legs are stiff, like hard plastic. They are curved like half a soda straw, and when they are joined together, they make a tiny tube through which the sperm travel during copulation. Crayfish literally copulate with their legs. Observe their external anatomy. Examine the various appendages and modified appendages closely.