Blind Cave Crayfish: Orconectes australis australis

FISH WORLD ERIE · Post by **FISH WORLD ERIE** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:15 pm

Very nice cray. One of the coolest Iv'e ever seen. Yucca what was the size of the biggest one you saw. Keep up the research. Love the pics.

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:58 pm

The largest one I saw was not much more than 3.5 inches body length (not including extended claws).

Post by **Mustafa** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:37 pm

Awesome cave cray! Thanks for sharing the pictures!

Loss of pigmentation, loss of eyes, and elongation of limbs are typical characteristics of cave dwelling crayfish, Palaemonid shrimp (such as Macros etc.). Atyid shrimp don't seem to adhere to the limb elongation "rule."

Anyway, it seems like the crayfish species in the picture has been underground for quite some time during its evolution, but probably (not necessarily) not as long as some cave crayfish from Florida that I have come across. Those guys almost look like spiders with their unusually long legs, whereas this species seems to display relatively normal limb length.

Either way, great shot! Pictures of cave crayfish are hard to come by!

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:18 am

Mustafa, I'd love to see those crays in Florida. They sound fantastic.

I can truly say that the ones I photographed were the most beautiful animals I have ever seen in the wild.