The Everglades crayfish (''Procambarus alleni''), sometimes called the Florida crayfish, the blue crayfish, the electric blue crayfish, or the sapphire crayfish, is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
freshwater crayfish
Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the Superfamily (taxonomy), superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather- ...
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
in the United States. Its natural range is the area east of
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River () is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and is the most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders 12 counties. The drop in elevation from River s ...
and all of Florida from
Levy County
Levy County ( ) is a county located in the North central Florida part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,915. Its county seat is Bronson. It has been included in the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan ...
and Marion County southwards, as well as on some of the
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...
. It is included on the
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
as a species of
Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
. The blue crayfish is frequently kept in a freshwater aquaria. In the wild, this species varies from brown-tan to blue, but an aquarium strain has been
selectively bred
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant ma ...
to achieve a brilliant cobalt blue color.
It should not be confused with the burrowing ''
Cambarus monongalensis
''Cambarus'' is a large and diverse genus of crayfish from the United States and Canada. The adults range in size from about up to approximately .
Description
The genus ''Cambarus'' is the second largest freshwater crayfish genus inhabiting t ...
'', also known as the blue crayfish, but native to
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
and
West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
.
Gallery
File: Pregnant mother cradling eggs.jpg,
Gravid
In biology and medicine, gravidity and parity are the number of times a female has been pregnant (gravidity) and carried the pregnancies to a viable gestational age (parity). These two terms are usually coupled, sometimes with additional terms, t ...
mother cradling eggs inside her swimmerets
File: Female Blue Crayfish.jpg, Female dwelling in a small cave
File: Male Blue Crayfish.jpg, Male dwelling in a small cave