Crayfish of Vermont
It’s surprisingly difficult to simply write down a complete list of the species of crayfish we have in Vermont. It is equally difficult to get accurate records on which species are native and which have been introduced. This is in part because there has been so little attention paid to crayfish in the northeast. Many of our species readily hybridize, further confusing identification. I’ve relied on information from iNaturalist.org, data from the state, data I’ve collected, and unpublished data/resources from fellow naturalists and educators who study crayfish to tease out which species are present and which are indeed native.
All of our species of crayfish in the northeast are in the family Cambaridae; our species in the genus Faxonius were formerly in the genus Orconectes.
* = not native to Vermont
§ = non-native & invasive in Vermont
† = not yet present in Vermont, but in adjacent watersheds
- Appalachian (eastern) crayfish, Cambarus bartonii
- * Big water crayfish, Cambarus robustus
- Calico crayfish, Faxonius immunis,
- Spiny-cheek crayfish, Faxonius limosus
- *, † Allegheny crayfish, Faxonius obscurus
- Northern clearwater crayfish, Faxonius propinquus
- § Rusty crayfish, Faxonius rusticus
- * Virile crayfish, Faxonius virilis
- † White river crayfish, Procambarus acutus,
- † Red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii,
Range map
Observations of the various Cambaridae crayfish found in New England, map based on observations submitted on iNaturalist.org.
