Classification: Special Concern
National Range: North Carolina (and Horry Co., South Carolina) endemic
NC Physiographic Region(s): lower coastal plain
River Basin(s): Lumber (Fullerton and Watson 2001), Waccamaw
Adult Habitat: “clear, sand-bottomed streams flowing through swampy areas” (NHP ICAS 1999– for P. lepidodactylus); slow-moving lotic or lentic waters; swifter areas in swampy streams, associated with aquatic vegetation
Reproductive Season: spring and fall
Species associates: P. acutus, P. ancylus, and P. blandingii
Conservation status: state-listed as Special Concern in North Carolina (J.E. Cooper in Clamp 1999)
Identification references: Cooper 1998b; also see description by J.E. Cooper in Clamp (1999)
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.