Tuesday Crustie: Hasta be Shasta

Not this kind of Shasta...

This kind of Shasta:

Chris Lukhaup posted this on his Facebook page earlier today, describing it as the rarest crayfish in North America. It’s the Shasta crayfish, Pacifastacus fortis. This is a critically endangered species. It’s got a tiny range of only a few square kilometers. It’s been under pressure from introduced cousin, the signal crayfish (P. leniusculus) and damns (Light et al. 1995). It needs really pristine water. It’s not doing well, but I hope that with people like Chris making the effort to show how beautiful these animals are in their natural habitat, we can make things better for this beastie.

Reference

Light T, Erman DC, Myrick C, Clarke J. 1995. Decline of the Shasta crayfish (Pacifastacus fortis Faxon) of Northeastern California. Conservation Biology 9: 1567-1577. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1995.09061567.x