Ghost Crayfish
Orconectes inermis Cope, 1872

Taxonomy

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class

Stygobiont

Realm

Aquatic

Troglomorphy

Troglomorphic

Maximum length

66 mm

Distribution

Type locality

Sibert's Well, Crawford Co. IN

Range

Known from 20 counties across three states in the Interior Low Plateau karst region.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee

Counties

Indiana

Bartholomew, Crawford, Greene, Harrison, Jefferson, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen, Washington

Kentucky

Breckenridge, Breckinridge, Green, Greene, Hardin, Hart, Lawrence, Meade

Tennessee

Grundy

Karst regions

Interior Low Plateau

Genetics

Molecular resources

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

Download all 3 sequence records (CSV) Accession, marker, molecule type, length, GenBank definition and a direct link.

Specimens

Type material

Syntype

CRU-7431 · Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard

Type

USNM 17702 · National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Collections holding material

114 cataloged lots in 5 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 114 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

G5 Secure

Global rank last reviewed 1 July 2009.

Subnational ranks

Indiana

S3 Vulnerable

Kentucky

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.

Other resources

Catalogue of Life

7W5Y7

GBIF

2227040

ITIS

97449

iNaturalist

107777

NCBI Taxonomy

306150

References

• 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
• 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.
• 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
• Gage, L. 2025. Preliminary observation of terrestrial, aquatic, and aerial fauna in Breathing Hole Cave. Northern Indiana Grotto Newsletter: 1–7.
• 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.
• Hobbs, H.H., Jr. & Barr, T.C., Jr. 1972. Origins and affinities of the troglobitic crayfishes of North America (Decapoda: Astacidae) II. Genus Orconectes. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 105: 1–84. doi:10.5479/si.00810282.105
• Hobbs & H.H. Jr. 1942a. A generic revision of the crayfishes of the subfamily Cambarinae (Decapoda, Astacidae) with the description of a new genus and species. The American Midland Naturalist 28: 334–357. doi:10.2307/2420820
• 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.
• Holt, P.C. 1973. Branchiobdellids (Annelida: Clitellata) from some eastern North American caves, with descriptions of new species of the genus Cambarincola. International Journal of Speleology 5: 219–256.
• Jegla, T.C. 1966. Reproductive and molting cylces in cave crayfish. The Biological Bulletin 130: 345–358. doi:10.2307/1539741
• Jegla, T.C. 1969. Cave crayfish: annual periods of molting and reproduction. Actes du IV Congres International de Speleologie en Yugoslavie 2026–04–05 00:00:00: 135–137.
• Lewis, J.J. 2002j. Conservation assessment for Northern Cave Crayfish (Orconectes inermis). U.S. Forest Service, Eastern Region, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. 11 pp.
• Lönnberg, E. 1894b. A new blind species, Cambarus acherontis Mihi. Bihang till Kongl. Svenska vetenskaps-akademiens handlingar 20: 3–14.
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Relyea, K. & Sutton, B. 1973b. Egg-bearing in the troglobitic crayfish, Procambarus pallidus (Hobbs). Florida Scientist 36: 173–175. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24319455. details
• 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

How to cite this account

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

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