University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Nebraska Game and Parks Commission -- White Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Papers, Conference Presentations, & Manuscripts 2016 The rC ayfish of Nebraska Steven C. Schainost Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Alliance, NE, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebgamewhitepap Part of the Biodiversity Commons Schainost, Steven C., "The rC ayfish of Nebraska" (2016). Nebraska Game and Parks Commission -- White Papers, Conference Presentations, & Manuscripts. 69. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebgamewhitepap/69 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Nebraska Game and Parks Commission -- White Papers, Conference Presentations, & Manuscripts by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. THE CRAYFISH OF NEBRASKA Steven C. Schainost i ii THE CRAYFISH OF NEBRASKA by Steven C. Schainost Photographs by the author, unless otherwise credited Published by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission iii Northern crayfish, Orconectes virilis Nebraska Game and Parks Commission 2200 North 33rd Lincoln NE 68503 2016 The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission does not discriminate based on gender, age, disability, race, color, religion, marital status, national or ethnic origin or sexual orientation. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is an equal opportunity employer with a comprehensive plan for diversity. iv River Basins Nebraska v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................................. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 1 History of crayfish collecting in Nebraska............................................................................................ 1 THE NEBRASKA LANDSCAPE ............................................................................................................ 2 The Western Corn Belt Plains ............................................................................................................... 3 The Central Great Plains ....................................................................................................................... 3 Northwestern Glaciated Plains .............................................................................................................. 5 Northwestern Great Plains .................................................................................................................... 5 The Nebraska Sand Hills....................................................................................................................... 6 Western High Plains ............................................................................................................................. 6 CLASSIFICATION AND TAXONOMY OF CRAYFISH ..................................................................... 8 ANATOMY ................................................................................................................................................ 10 External Anatomy ................................................................................................................................... 10 Internal Anatomy .................................................................................................................................... 11 THE BIOLOGY OF CRAYFISHES .......................................................................................................... 13 Habitats ............................................................................................................................................... 13 Behavior .............................................................................................................................................. 14 Reproduction ....................................................................................................................................... 14 Food and feeding ................................................................................................................................. 17 Molting and Growth ............................................................................................................................ 18 Production ........................................................................................................................................... 20 Commensals, parasites and diseases ................................................................................................... 20 “Blue” crayfish .................................................................................................................................... 21 Role in aquatic communities ............................................................................................................... 21 AS AN INVASIVE SPECIES ................................................................................................................ 22 IDENTIFICATION ................................................................................................................................. 23 vi COLLECTING CRAYFISHES .............................................................................................................. 23 STUDYING CRAYFISHES ................................................................................................................... 25 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE ................................................................................................................ 26 HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED .................................................................................................... 27 NEBRASKA CRAYFISH COLLECTIONS ....................................................................................... 28 Devil Crayfish .................................................................................................................................. 29 Calico Crayfish ................................................................................................................................ 38 Ringed Crayfish............................................................................................................................... 46 Northern Crayfish .......................................................................................................................... 54 Prairie Crayfish ............................................................................................................................... 63 INTRODUCED CRAYFISHES ............................................................................................................. 71 White River Crayfish ..................................................................... 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Red Swamp Crayfish ...................................................................................................................... 76 Rusty Crayfish ................................................................................................................................. 82 GEOLOGY AND GLACIATIONS ................................................................................................................. 90 BODY MEASUREMENTS AND RATIOS .................................................................................................. 100 LITERATURE CITED ................................................................................................................................ 116 GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................................................ 134 IDENTIFICATION KEY TO NEBRASKA’S CRAYFISHES ......................................................................... 136 vii PREFACE Unknown to me at the time, my interest in years, I began to get a more complete crayfishes began as a kid in the 1950’s. We picture of the crayfishes of Nebraska. lived on a farm in Knox County, Nebraska, Collecting crayfish, identifying what I had and my brother and I would go down to the found and storing the information in jars on crick to go fishing. The “crick” was a small, a shelf and pieces of paper in a file were unnamed tributary in the headwaters of accomplishing little. These were neat Little Bazile Creek. Even as kids we could critters and, perhaps, others might be easily hop across it so we fished the pool interested in what was here. The result is under the county road bridge. While we did, the book you hold in your hands. once, catch a fish (a bullhead), most of our “fishing” was for crawdads. We would put a gob of worms or a piece of liver on a hook which would be lowered to the bottom of the pool. After a bit, we would s.l.o.w.l.y lift the hook out of the water to find a crawdad clinging to the bait. After a bit, it would drop off and we’d do it again. (Must have gotten pinched once because I don’t remember handling them.) I would imagine a lot of farm kids had the same experience. Now let us fast forward to 1995. I was now a fisheries biologist and had spent a couple of decades collecting