The Procambarus clarkii, also known as the red crayfish, freshwater crayfish, or red swamp crayfish, is a species of crayfish in the family Crayfidae. It is native to the southeastern United States and northern Mexico, and is now widely distributed in more than 40 countries and regions. It is also widely present in various parts of China, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River where the population is the largest. This kind of shrimp often lives in rivers, lakes, ditches, ponds and rice fields. In scientific classification, it belongs to the animal kingdom, arthropod phylum, crustacean subphylum, soft shelled class, Decapoda, abdominal embryo subphylum, crayfish family, and genus Procambarus. The scientific name of this shrimp was first named by Girard in 1852.