Mammoth Cave Crayfish
Orconectes pellucidus (Tellkampf, 1844)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Distribution

Type locality

Mammoth Cave, Edmonson Co. KY

Range

Known from 16 counties across four states in the Interior Low Plateau karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee

Counties

Alabama

Mobile

Indiana

Crawford, Monroe

Kentucky

Barren, Christian, Edmonson, Green, Hart, Larue, Logan, Simpson, Trigg, Warren

Tennessee

Dickson, Montgomery, Robertson

Karst regions

Interior Low Plateau

Genetics

Molecular resources

2 sequences, retrieved 23 August 2026. Counts change as sequences are deposited. Search GenBank.

Download all 2 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Holotype

1564 · Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin

Topotype

24420 · North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Collections holding material

139 cataloged lots in 18 collections. Compiled from GBIF and not an exhaustive census: many collections are not yet digitised, and holdings are added continually. Search GBIF for specimen records.

Download all 139 specimen records (CSV) Institution, catalog number, type status and preparation. No coordinates.

Conservation and management

IUCN Red List

LC Least Concern na

Assessed in 2010.

NatureServe

G4 Apparently Secure

Global rank last reviewed 1 July 2009.

Subnational ranks

Kentucky

S3 Vulnerable

Tennessee

S3 Vulnerable

Ranks looked up 23 August 2026. Conservation status changes, and a rank here is as current as that date and no more.

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Threats

• Pollution -Sewage or Urban Wastewater
• Pollution - Commercial/Industrial

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7W5ZB

GBIF

2227093

ITIS

97469

iNaturalist

776146

NCBI Taxonomy

306152

References

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• Banta, A.M. 1907. The fauna of Mayfield's Cave. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 67: 1–114. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/60987. details
• Barr, T.C., Jr. & Kuehne, R.A. 1971. Ecological studies in the Mammoth Cave system of Kentucky. II. The Ecosystem. Annales de Speleologie 26: 47–96. doi:10.5038/1827-806X.3.1.10
• Brown, F.A. 1961. Diurnal rhythm in cave crayfish. Nature 191: 929–930.
• Buhay, J.E. & Crandall, K.A. 2009. Taxonomic revision of cave crayfish in the genus Cambarus, subgenus Aviticambarus (Decapoda: Cambaridae) with descriptions of two new species, C. speleocoopi and C.laconensis, endemic to Alabama, U.S.A. Journal of Crustacean Biology 29(1): 121–134. doi:10.1651/08-3089.1
• Cooper, J.E. 1975. Ecological and behavioral studies in Shelta Cave, Alabama, with emphasis on decapod crustaceans. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA. 364 pp.
• Cooper, J.E. & Cooper, M.R. 2011. Observations on the biology of the endangered stygobiotic shrimp Palaemonias alabamae, with notes on P. ganteri (Decapoda: Atyidae). Subterranean Biology 8: 9–20.
• Eigenmann, C.H. 1899a. Explorations in the caves of Missouri and Kentucky. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 1899: 58–61. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14629276. details
• Faxon, W. 1898. Observations on the Astacidae in the United States National Museum and in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 20: 643–694. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.20-1136.643
• Faxon, W. 1914. Notes on the crayfishes in the United States National Museum and the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, with descriptions of new species and subspecies, to which is appended a catalogue of the known species and subspecies. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College 40: 351–427. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/pagethumb/13305306,100,100. details
• Giovannoli, L. 1933. Invertebrate life of Mammoth and other neighboring caves. In: Bailey, V. (ed), Cave Life of Kentucky, pp. 600–623.
• Harker, D.F., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1980. Caves and associated fauna of the Western Kentucky coal field, Volume 2. Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfurt, Kentucky, USA. 114 pp.
• Harris, J.A. 1903. An ecological catalogue of the crayfishes belonging to the genus Cambarus. Kansas University Science Bulletin 2: 51–187.
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• Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1989. An illustrated checklist of the American crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidae, Cambaridae, and Parastacidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 480: 1–236. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.480
• Hobbs, H.H. Jr., Hobbs, H.H. III & Daniel, M.A. 1977. A review of the troglobitic decapod crustaceans of the Americas. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 244: 1–183.
• Lewis, J.J. 1988. The systematics, zoogeography and life history of the troglobitic isopods of the Interior Plateaus of the eastern United States. University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. 281 pp.
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• Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2005. Inventory of the subterranean fauna of Tims Ford State Park, Franklin County, Tennessee. Tennesee Natural Heritage Program, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 28 pp.
• Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2007. A biological reconnaissance of selected caves in the Highland Rim area of central Tennessee. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 42 pp.
• Lewis, J.J., Whitaker, J.O. & Krantz, G.W. 2010. A biological reconnaissance of the invertebrate fauna of twelve Tennessee caves with notes on the guanophilic mites of the genus Macrocheles. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 85: 53–61.
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• Lönnberg, E. 1894a. Cambarids from Florida, a new blind species. Zoologischer Anzeiger 17: 125–127.
• Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
• Niemiller, M.L. & Zigler, K.S. 2013. Patterns of cave biodiversity and endemism in the Appalachians and Interior Plateau of Tennessee, USA. PLOS One 8: e64177. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064177
• Ortmann, A.E. 1902. The geographical distribution of freshwater decapods and its bearing upon ancient geography. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 41: 267–400. https://www.jstor.org/stable/983485. details
• Ortmann, A.E. 1905. The mutual affinities of the species of the genus Cambarus, and their dispersal over the United States. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 44: 91–136. https://www.jstor.org/stable/983509. details
• Packard, A.S. 1871. The Mammoth Cave and its inhabitants. On the crustaceans and insects. American Naturalist 5: 739–761. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2447590. details
• Park, O., Roberts, T.W. & Harris, S.J. 1941. Preliminary Analysis of Activity of the Cave Crayfish, Cambarus pellucidus. The American Naturalist 75: 154–171. doi:10.1086/280943
• Pearson, W.D. & Boston, C.H., Jr. 1995. Distribution and status of the northern cavefish, Amblyopsis spelaea. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Fish and Wildlife, Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program,, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 99 pp.
• Poulson, T.L. 1961. Cave adaptation in amblyopsid cavefishes. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. 185 pp. doi:10.7302/9847
• Putnam, F.W. 1872. The blind fishes of the Mammoth Cave and their allies. The American Naturalist 6: 6–30. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2446708. details
• Putnam, F.W. 1877. On some of the habits of the blind crawfish, Cambarus pellucidus, and the reproduction of lost parts. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 18: 16–19.
• Simon, T.P. 2011. Conservation status of North American freshwater crayfish (Decapoda: Cambaridae) from the southern United States. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 120(1–2): 71–95. https://journals.indianapolis.iu.edu/index.php/ias/article/download/21024/20442/0. details
• Stern, D.B., Breinholt, J., Pedraza-Lara, C., Lopez-Mejia, M., Owen, C.L., Bracken-Grissom, H., Fetzner, J.W., Jr. & Crandall, K.A. 2017. Phylogenetic evidence from freshwater crayfishes that cave adaptation is not an evolutionary dead-end. Evolution 71(10): 2522–2532. doi:10.1111/evo.13326
• Tellkampf, T. 1844. Beschreibung einiger neuer in der Mammuth-Höhle in Kentucky aufgefundener Gattungen von Gliedertieren. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 10: 318–322. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.29561
• Tellkampf, T.A. 1845. Memoirs on the blind fishes and some other animals living in the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The New York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences 5: 84–93. https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_York_journal_of_medicine/rXEdAQAAMAAJ?hl=en. details
• Tennessee Cave Survey. 2005. Biological records from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia caves. Tennessee Cave Survey.

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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