VB.NET Core Classes in a Nutshell

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The animal on the cover of VB.NET Core Classes in a Nutshell is a crawfish. Crawfish, or crayfish, are freshwater crustaceans. They can be found all over the world, but more than half of the approximately 500 species are found in North America.

Crawfish are similar in structure to lobsters, though much smaller (3 to 4 inches long). A crawfish’s head and thorax are joined, followed by a segmented body. The head has a sharp snout, eyes on moveable stalks, and sensory antennae. It has four pairs of walking legs, which it also uses to probe for food, and two claws that extend from the front of its body, used for pinching. Crawfish are brown or greenish, except for some cave-dwelling types that are colorless and eyeless.

Females lay anywhere from 10 to 800 eggs at a time, which attach to the females’ swimming legs until they hatch. Newly hatched crawfish look like miniature adults. They molt 6 to 10 times in the first year during rapid growth, then less often in the second year. Crawfish usually live only two years.

Crawfish are considered a delicacy in the southern United States, particularly in Louisiana, where they play an important role in Cajun cuisine. Crawfish are a key ingredient in many of the most famous Cajun dishes, such as ...