Pilose crayfish

Pacifastacus gambelii · Aquatic life

Whole animal · Photo: mark-groeneveld / CC BY

NativeCrustacean (crayfish, scud)

Also called Snake River pilose crayfish, Pacifastacus connectens, Native crayfish, Crawdad

How to identify Pilose crayfish

Native crayfish, brown to olive
Patches of fine hairs (setae) on the claws, unlike any other crayfish in the region
Snake River pilose crayfish has a narrow, pointed tip on the head shell between the eyes (rostrum); pilose crayfish has a broad, blunt one

Similar species

Signal crayfish are larger with a white to pale blue patch at the claw joint and no hair patches. Virile crayfish have knobby claws with yellowish bumps.

Profile

Season	Active spring through fall.
Starts	Most active in warm months
Depth	Rocky and gravel bottoms
How it spreads or reproduces	Walks between connected waters
Habitat	Rivers, streams, springs and some reservoirs of the Snake River drainage in Idaho and western Wyoming, the northern Bonneville (Bear River) basin and the Harney Basin of Oregon.

Why it matters in a lake

A declining native crayfish being pushed out by introduced virile and signal crayfish. Two close relatives share the name: the pilose crayfish (P. gambelii) of the Snake River above Shoshone Falls and the Bear River area, and the Snake River pilose crayfish (P. connectens) below Shoshone Falls and in Oregon's Harney Basin. Do not move crayfish between waters.