2 new species of crayfish identified in Pacific Northwest — and they're already at risk

Courtney Dickson · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 07, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 7

Two caller taxon of crayfish person been identified successful the Pacific Northwest portion of North America, and researchers accidental some taxon are susceptible to extinction.

One of those crayfish is called the "misfortunate crayfish," recovered chiefly successful cardinal Oregon, according to biologist Eric Larson. 

The other, the Okanagan crayfish, is recovered in, well, B.C.'s Okanagan Lake.

Both were antecedently mistaken for the awesome crayfish, the astir communal taxon of crayfish connected the West Coast, Larson said.

"They are marque caller species. It's the archetypal clip anyone has called this carnal the Okanagan crayfish," Larson told CBC's Daybreak South host Chris Walker.

The easiest mode to differentiate the awesome assortment from the different 2 is simply a distinctive achromatic people connected the awesome crayfish's claw. 

"If you find that absent oregon truly reduced, that mightiness suggest you're looking astatine the Okanagan crayfish," Larson said.  

Eric Taylor, a prof of zoology astatine the University of British Columbia, said it's important to place antithetic species, adjacent if they look precise similar, for respective reasons. 

"There's benignant of an inherent worth successful knowing," helium said. "Humans similar to cognize astir the satellite astir us, which includes the earthy world, truthful it's important for an close knowing of the level of biodiversity we have."

Additionally, it helps researchers amended recognize the ecosystem successful which these taxon live. 

Thirdly, identifying idiosyncratic taxon gives conservationists an thought of however wide the taxon is. For example, Taylor said, determination could beryllium a stronger effort to support a taxon if it's lone recovered successful 1 tiny area, arsenic opposed to crossed a region. 

At hazard of extinction

Okanagan and misfortunate crayfish are already considered astatine hazard of extinction, according to Larson. 

Taylor said this is nary surprise, fixed that these are smaller groups of what was erstwhile thought to beryllium a larger population. 

"The smaller an country an carnal oregon works lives in, the greater the accidental that if thing atrocious happens, it's going to spell extinct," helium said. 

The Okanagan crayfish is of peculiar concern, Taylor said, due to the fact that it's located successful Okanagan Lake — an country of "high quality impact." 

Larson hopes the concern volition animate conservation action. 

"Crayfish don't get on that well," helium said. 

"We person moved crayfish astir for centuries," Larson added, pointing to stocking lakes with crayfish, utilizing them arsenic bait and adjacent classrooms releasing them into the wild. 

They tin besides drawback a thrust to a caller determination connected boats, akin to invasive mussels. 

Larson said that, successful particular, scientists interest Okanagan crayfish volition beryllium displaced by invasive virile crayfish, portion misfortunate crayfish could vanish owed to invasive rusty crayfish.  

That's a overmuch bigger hazard for the misfortunate crayfish successful Oregon that has the rusty crayfish from eastbound North America spreading truly rapidly successful its autochthonal range. But for the Okanagan crayfish, we benignant of wanted to discourage question of different crayfish into its populations. 

Not lone tin invasive taxon beryllium harmful to those autochthonal to the Pacific Northwest, they besides provender connected food eggs and destruct aquatic plants, Larson said, arsenic good arsenic harm infrastructure similar irrigation canals and dams. 

Invasive crayfish tin besides transportation disease, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. 

"They determination shocking amounts of sediment. So you conscionable privation to beryllium truly cautious not to present crayfish to caller places."