The growth cycle of crayfish is 18-22 months, that is, 1.5-2 years. The male shrimp is about 20 months, and the female shrimp is 24 months. Under the condition of artificial culture, the growth cycle of crayfish will be slightly higher than that in natural growth environment. Therefore, in crayfish culture, we can't blindly seek to cultivate large-sized crayfish, but we can sell them as long as they can meet the sales specifications, so as to avoid losses to farmers due to natural death of crayfish.

Before 6 cm, the weight growth of male and female crayfish was slow, and there was no significant difference between them. After 6 cm, the weight gain is accelerated, and the growth rate of male shrimp is gradually faster than that of female shrimp. The suitable size for catching male shrimp is 6.0 ~ 6.5 cm in length, that is, 8.0 ~ 8.5 cm in length and 0/5 ~ 20 g in weight/kloc-0; The female shrimp should also be 6.0 ~ 6.5 cm in length, that is, 8.0 ~ 8.5 cm in length and weighing15 ~18 g.

By observing and measuring the body weight and body length of different crayfish in the growth cycle, we established the growth model of crayfish according to the relationship between body length and body weight. The relationship between body length (L) and body weight (W) is: female W = 0.0199L× 3.2442, male W = 0.0155L× 3.4065.

The age of sexual maturity of female shrimp is 0.8 years, the age with the highest growth rate is 3 years, and the ecological life span is 5.3 years. The age of sexual maturity of male shrimp is 0.7 years, the age of maximum growth rate is 2.5 years, and the ecological life span is 4.3 years.

However, it is difficult for us to find crayfish over three winters in natural waters, mainly because there is a certain gap between the ecological age and the actual age. At the same time, human fishing, water environment change, climate change, predation by other organisms and diseases are all factors that make it difficult for crayfish to reach the ecological age.