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Ozark County Cave Yields Crayfish 
New to Science

Ozark caves could hold more undiscovered species

From 
Missouri Wildlife 61(1) :3  
February/March 2000.

Biologists looking for two rare cave species have discovered something even rarer - a species previously unknown to science.  

Last August 16, biologists working for the Missouri Department of Conservation entered a small cave on Caney Mountain Conservation Area (CA) in Ozark County. They were looking for the federally endangered Ozark big-eared bat and a rare crayfish, Cambarus aculabrum.

Researchers from Chicago's Shedd Aquarium had reported seeing blind crayfish in the cave a few years earlier. It seemed possible these might have been Cambarus aculabrum, which lives in  some  caves  in  north-central Arkansas. They also might have been Salem cave crayfish, a species know to inhabit caves to the east of Caney Mountain CA, or the bristly cave crayfish, which lives in caves to the west.

The Conservation Department surveyors didn't find big-eared bats or any of the known cave crayfish species. When Cave Biologist Bill Elliott examined one of the crayfish, he found its mating appendages were unique, leading him to suspect it might be a new species. They photographed the animals and collected one mature male and one female, freezing some tissue from the female for DNA testing.

Elliott sent the specimens to cave crayfish expert Dr. Horton H. Hobbs III at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, for identification. He confirmed that it was a species not previ­ously known to science.

"Hobbs said he just about fell off his chair when he examined the specimens," says Elliott. "It turned out to be the first blind species of the genus Orconectes from west of the Mississippi. Missouri has 19 surface-dwelling species of this genus, but no cave-dwellers until this one."

Since the crayfish is new to science it has no scientific or common name yet. Ken Lister, who netted the two specimens, says he thinks "the Caney Mountain cave crayfish" has a nice ring to it.

The crayfish's future seems secure. The cave where it lives is in a natural area, with the cave's entire watershed on Caney Mountain CA. The cave itself is obscure and contains no beautiful rock formations or other features to attract visitors.

Cave crayfish are unique in ways that go beyond their rarity. They have become so well-adapted to caves that they lack eyes. And because cave environments are so stable and food supplies so sparse, these creatures can take 40 years to reach maturity. They may live 100 years.

Elliott will lead field studies of the new crayfish, and says he hopes to find other populations in the area. He says the Ozark’s caves may hold still more undiscovered species.  Counties that have an abundance of caves but are not known to harbor any blind crayfish include Dallas, Douglas, Laclede, Polk, Stone, Taney, Texas, Webster, and Wright.