Biologists rank North America’s largest crayfish
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Caitlin Bloomer, a teaching assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, initially believed she caught the largest crayfish ever while conducting a biological survey in Kentucky.
She and a colleague then began a collaborative effort with biologists and museum curators across the country to identify the largest crayfish specimens. The team measured over 20 individuals from 18 species, publishing their rankings in the journal Ecology.
The research revealed that a Tennessee bottlebrush crayfish, held in the West Liberty University Astacology Collection in West Virginia, was the largest, measuring 86.6 millimeters (3.4 inches) without its tail, claws, or antennae. The Illinois Natural History Survey and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History also held significant numbers of the largest specimens. Beyond ranking sizes, the biologists observed that North American crayfish generally max out around 80 millimeters (3.1 inches) in length.
They are now investigating whether physiological factors, such as the composition of their exoskeletons or muscle structure, limit their size, as environmental factors did not appear to correlate with larger sizes. The researchers emphasized the value of museum collections in answering basic biological questions about even well-known creatures like crayfish.
