''Faxonius virilis'' is a species of crayfish known as the virile crayfish, northern crayfish, eastern crayfish, and lesser known as the lake crayfish or common crawfish. ''Faxonius virilis'' was reclassified in August 2017, and the genus was changed from ''

Orconectes ''Orconectes'' is a genus of cave dwelling freshwater crayfish, endemic to suitable habitats in the eastern United States. Surface dwelling species, formerly categorised here, were moved to ''Faxonius'' in 2017. Due to their subterranean habit ...

'' to ''

Faxonius ''Faxonius'' is a genus of crayfish, freshwater crayfish in the family Cambaridae. There are more than 90 described species in ''Faxonius''. It includes the rusty crayfish, an invasive species in North America, and three species, ''F. virilis'', ...

.'' It is native to eastern United States and southeast Canada.

Ecology

''Faxonius virilis'' can be found under stones and logs in lakes, streams, and wetlands, where they hide from predators, such as fish. They are identified by the brown of rust-red carapace and large

cheliped A chela ()also called a claw, nipper, or pinceris a pincer-like organ at the end of certain limbs of some arthropods. The name comes from Ancient Greek , through New Latin '. The plural form is chelae. Legs bearing a chela are called chelipeds. ...

s, which are usually blue in colour. ''Faxonius virilis'' feeds on a wide range of plants and

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s, as well as

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found ...

s and even small fish.

Distribution

''Faxonius virilis'' is found in southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and in the northern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, but has become an invasive species in parts of North America outside its native range, and was discovered in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 2008. It is listed as a species of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Invasiveness status

In Europe, ''Faxonius virilis'' is included since 2016 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list). This implies that this species cannot be imported, bred, transported, commercialized, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union.

Uses

''Faxonius virilis'' is used as fishing bait and as food for humans, and also as aquarium food for carnivorous fish.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q3933612 Cambaridae Freshwater crustaceans of North America Fauna of the Plains-Midwest (United States) Crustaceans described in 1870 Taxa named by Hermann August Hagen Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN