Chapter 3 North Carolina Species
3.4 Crayfishes 3.4.1 Introduction
Within North Carolina, more than 50 species of crayfishes are recognized, including 15 endemic species and seven nonnative species (NCBP 2025, Simmons and Fraley 2010) . Crayfishes, commonly referred to as crawfish or crawdads, are native to every continent except Africa and Antarctica and inhabit a wide diversity of habitats that range from rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands, to caves, hillside seeps and springs, roadside ditches, and underground burrows in backyards (Taylor and Schuster 2004; Reynolds and Souty-Grosset 2012) . Several crayfishes in the state are known from the work of John Cooper at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences during the last two decades (Cooper and Cooper 1995; Cooper 1998, 2000a, 2000b, 2004a, 2004b, 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2007, 2010, 2011; Cooper and Schofield 2002; Cooper and Cooper 2003; Cooper and Russ 2013) . North American crayfishes are classified into two taxonomic families, Astacidae and Cambaridae, that contain nearly 390 native species (Simmons and Fraley 2010) . Approximately 98% of all the species native to North America are classified as cambarids and the majority of this diversity (90%) occurs east of the Rocky Mountains, primarily in the southeastern United States (Pflieger 1996, Taylor and Schuster 2004) making the southeastern United States home to the greatest diversity of crayfishes in the world ((Hobbs 1981, Richman et al. 2015, Taylor et al. 2007, Perkins et al. 2023) . Crayfishes are large, highly mobile, abundant invertebrates that use a wide variety of aquatic habitats and assume important roles in freshwater food webs (Pflieger 1996; Lodge et al. 2000a; Holdich 2002; Nystrom 2002) . They are epitomized as keystone species because of their ability to manipulate their physical surroundings, process detritus, change macrophyte biomass, and influence the abundance and structure of invertebrate communities (Chambers et al. 1990; Hanson et al. 1990; Holdich 2002; Statzner et al. 2003; Stenroth and Nystrom 2003) . Further, they represent a substantial portion of biomass within streams, thereby providing a forage base for numerous aquatic and terrestrial predators (Rabeni 1992; Rabeni et al. 1995; Pflieger 1996) . Burrowing crayfish spend significant portions of their lives in subterranean burrows ranging from simple linear shafts to elaborate systems of multiple tunnels and chambers (Hobbs Jr. 1981; Taylor et al. 1996) . Burrowers may use areas without standing water or inhabit open water during wet seasons (Hobbs Jr. 1942, 1981; Welch 2006) . The Red Burrowing Crayfish is a primary burrowing crayfish often found in wetlands and bogs. Nonburrowing crayfish live in permanent waters and may make shallow excavations or simple tubes under rocks or in the substrate for refuge (Taylor et al. 1996) . Our described native crayfish fauna is dominated by the genus Cambarus (34 species) but also includes species from the genera Procambarus (8 species), Faxonius (eight species), and Fallicambarus (one species). In addition, North Carolina is home to several undescribed species that await taxonomic resolution and scientific description. Baseline surveys and relatively recent assessments have been completed for many species in the mountains, including two
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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