Classification: Nongame Fish - Crustacean
National Range: “piedmont and coastal plain from the Tar and Cape Fear basins in North Carolina southwardto the Altamaha and Apalachicola basins in Georgia and Florida, westward to the Coosa Basin in Alabama” (Hobbs Jr. 1989); blue ridge province in Tennessee (Williams and Bivens 1996)
NC Physiographic Region(s): eastern piedmont plateau, coastal plain
River Basin(s): Cape Fear, Hiwassee (see notes below), Neuse, Northeast Cape Fear, Tar-Pamlico, Waccamaw, White Oak
Adult Habitat: “small to moderately large streams and burrows”(Hobbs Jr. 1989); “small to medium size streams, in pools, under rocks, in leaf litter, and burrows(secondary burrower)” (Williams and Bivens 1996); clear or swampy streams or ditches and burrows along stream banks and in floodplain: in leaf debris along bank, in leaf and log debris in deeper runs and pools, in riffles and runs with gravel and cobble substrate
Reproductive Season: late fall, early winter
Species associates: many
Conservation status: not protected
Identification references: Cooper 1999, Hobbs Jr. 1989, Hobbs Jr. 1991
Taxonomic Description:
Crayfish Regulations (PDF)
Credit NCWRC for all photos.