The stimulus for the 2006 version of this book
was the publication of the Biology of Freshwater
Crayfi sh , edited by David M. Holdich, in 2002,
published by Blackwell Science Ltd. The Holdich
book was different to most other texts dealing with
similar material, in that although there are topics
such as growth, nutrition and reproduction and
behaviour, the full material for the commercial
species is presented under each separate genera,
rather than under fi sheries, countries or topics such
as management, aquaculture or conservation. In the
2006 edition and again in the current edition I have
followed the same approach, except for a few minor
instances where it was appropriate to make comparisons
for clarity