Marbled crayfish

Procambarus virginalis · A small freshwater crayfish with a mottled, marble-like pattern on its shell.

Also called Marmorkrebs.

Marbled crayfish
Photo: Lorenz Seebauer, CC BY-SA 4.0
Marbled crayfish
Photo: Lorenz Seebauer, CC BY-SA 4.0
Marbled crayfish
Photo: André Karwath aka Aka, CC BY-SA 2.5

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassMalacostraca
OrderDecapoda
FamilyCambaridae
GenusProcambarus
SpeciesProcambarus virginalis

Where it lives

No native range; wild populations now in Madagascar, Europe and Japan.

Fun facts

  • Marbled crayfish were the first known decapod crustaceans to reproduce by parthenogenesis, meaning babies develop without a father.
  • Every marbled crayfish is female, and her offspring are genetically identical to her.
  • All marbled crayfish are likely clones descended from a single specimen from around 1988, making this an extremely young species.
  • In Madagascar, their range grew 100-fold from 2007 to 2017, and the population is estimated to be in the millions.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).