Burrowing Crayfish

Description:

This photo shows the burrow and mud "porch" of the crayfish--plus, if you look closely, right in the middle, you can see a rather delicate claw. This guy lives in one of my flowerbeds and startled the heck out of me when I saw him for the first time. He moves extraordinarily fast and I have been unable to get a better photo (and believe me, I've tried!) The one time I witnessed him out of the burrow, he was surprisingly large, probably three inches long, and a dark murky gray-brown.

Habitat:

Burrowing crayfish don't need to be terribly near water, although they like moist soil. There are no bodies of water nearby, unless you count an artificial frog pond, but he found his way here anyway.

Notes:

Species ID will have to wait on a better shot of this guy--he's very shy. He is probably not a devil crayfish, the most common variety, but burrowing crayfish, though widespread in North Carolina, are not well documented.