Classification: Nongame Fish - Crustacean
National Range:"Atlantic watershed from the James drainage in Virginia and West Virginiasouth to the Yadkin Basin in North Carolina, in mountains and piedmont" (Hobbs Jr. 1989)
NC Physiographic Region(s): mountains and upper western piedmont;higher elevations
River Basin(s): upper Roanoke, upper Yadkin-Pee Dee
Adult Habitat: "rocky areas of streams" (Hobbs Jr. 1989); fast-flowing (always lotic), clear water; mostly under rocks in riffles; reproduction in burrows
Reproductive Season: late fall, winter, early spring; reproduce in burrows (Smart 1962)
Species associates: C. bartonii, C. (P.) sp. C,others
Conservation status: not protected
Identification references: Hobbs Jr. 1989, Hobbs Jr. 1991, Jezerinac et al. 1995
Taxonomic Description:
Crayfish Regulations (PDF)
Illustrations are reproduced with the permission of the Smithsonian Institution Press. We are grateful to them for allowing us to provide this useful information with the other materials provided herein. We also wish to recognize the tremendous contribution to crayfish biology by the author/artist, the late Horton H. Hobbs Jr.
The following illustration is reproduced from: Hobbs Jr., H. H. 1989. An illustrated checklist of the American crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidae, Cambaridae, and Parastacidae). Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, Number 480:1-236.
Credit NCWRC for all photos unless otherwise stated.