Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish

Cambarus cryptodytes

''Cambarus cryptodytes'', the Dougherty Plain cave crayfish or Apalachicola cave crayfish, is a small, freshwater crayfish endemic to Florida and Georgia in the United States. It is an underground species known only from waters associated with the Floridan aquifer.
Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish (Cambarus cryptodytes) - a female in berry (with eggs). The Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish, Cambarus cryptodytes, is an obligate inhabitant of groundwater. This species only lives in the Floridan Aquifer and is known from sites in both Florida and Georgia. Groundwater contamination threatens this species with intensive agricultural activities taking place on the surface above the Floridan Aquifer. As with all crayfish, females lay eggs, which are attached to the bottom of her tail. The eggs develop beneath the female’s tail until they hatch. The babies remain beneath her tail for a week or two before dropping off and living alone. One difference between surface crayfish and cave crayfish is that cave crayfish likely don’t breed each year and when they do, they have far fewer babies than surface species. There simply are not a lot of food resources in most subterranean waterways to support large populations of cave crayfish. This image was taken from the Center for Conservation at the San Antonio Zoo after the species was bred in captivity. Cambaridae,Cambarus cryptodytes,Dougherty Plains Cave Crayfish,Life in the dark,aquifer inhabiting species,cave crayfish,egg brooding,groundwater fauna,maternal care,obligate hypogean species,parental care,parental investment,reproduction,stygobitic species,subterranean species,troglomorphic,troglomorphism

Appearance

The Dougherty Plain cave crayfish grows to a length of about 53 millimetres with antennae twice this length. It is a colourless species with unpigmented eyes, segmented cephalothorax and abdomen, a pair of slender chelae with a row or two of tubercles and long slender appendages. The rostrum is long and unadorned with tubercles or spines.

Distribution

The Dougherty Plain cave crayfish is known from springs, wells and cave systems in the karst limestone region of Dougherty Plain in the Southeastern United States. It has been found in Dougherty County and Decatur County in Georgia and Jackson County and Washington County in Florida. It is likely also to be present in Mitchell County and Baker County, Georgia which lie between the two presently-known ranges.

Status

In 1996 this species was listed as "Vulnerable" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species but following the discovery that its range is wider than originally thought, it was in 2010 recategorised as being of "Least concern" on the grounds that it has a broad range and is common within that range. It seems to be able to live in water with low oxygen levels and may be widespread in the aquifer away from locations that open to the surface. Potential threats include removal of water from the aquifer for human use and contamination of the water by pesticides and excess nutrients from agricultural operations.

Behavior

Little is known of the biology of this crayfish. It is probably an opportunistic omnivorous scavenger and may feed on the Georgia blind salamander which shares the same range. It has a low metabolic rate, perhaps associated with the limited availability of food, and consequently it is possible that it may live for twenty years or more. Males with ripe gonads have been found between July and October but females bearing eggs have not been found and nor have juveniles or sub-adults.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Status: Least concern
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassMalacostraca
OrderDecapoda
FamilyCambaridae
GenusCambarus
SpeciesC. cryptodytes
Photographed in
United States of America