Changes in Size and Weight in Cooking

In the event of legal action being taken under the minimum-size regulations, on the basis of measurement of a catch after cooking, it would be of importance to know the approximate sizes of the crayfish before they were cooked. If the cooked crayfish were only slightly below the limit, it could be argued that they were above the minimum size when caught and had shrunk in cooking.

With this in mind, a number of crayfish were measured, then cooked by the usual commercial process described on page 24. The measurements were then retaken and any change in size recorded. The carapace shrinks no more than 1 mm. The change in total length is very variable because the muscles connecting the abdomen with the cephalothorax are in different stages of relaxation when death occurs. Accordingly, in some cases, an increase in size occurs. The abdomen breadth decreases no more than 1 mm.

Accordingly, it appears that the exoskeleton does undergo a slight shrinkage, but this is too small to be considered in a legal action. There is a considerable loss in weight, and this increases with the size of the crayfish.