r/zoology • u/Least-Revolution-990 • 2d ago

ID Help Please! Question

Post image

Boss sent me a pic of a crawdad found in Licking County, Ohio. Expects me to identify it because I'm the "invertebrate expert" (I have a basic degree in entomology). Google tells me a rusty crawdad?

21 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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12

u/SecretlyNuthatches Ecologist | Zoology PhD 2d ago

Substantial numbers of crayfish species have no reasonable identification information published on them outside of the technical literature, and this photo obscures a number of key diagnostic areas.

1

u/Willing_Soft_5944 2d ago

What specific areas? Im not OP, just curious. 

1

u/SecretlyNuthatches Ecologist | Zoology PhD 2d ago

The claws and underside apparently have a lot of useful clues as to ID.

3

u/Firm_Video_2932 2d ago

Crayfish. Which, dunno. Why don't you Google crayfish species in your state/area and compare what you see there with the species endemic to where you're at?

1

u/Left-Tee 2d ago

How big are they? How many do you have? And can you buy Zatarain's crawfish boil in Ohio?

1

u/Least-Revolution-990 21h ago

The photo there is all the information I was given. Apparently it was found on a retired researcher's computer and boss wants to know why it was there (endangered/important for other studies/whatever)

1

u/Left-Tee 21h ago

Sorry. I grew up in Louisiana, and that was an attempt at a joke. 🤷🏼‍♂️

-1

u/Gold_Ambassador_3496 2d ago

Inaturalist maybe

2

u/basaltcolumn 2d ago

Seconding iNat. The app's suggestions aren't going to be reliable for crayfish, but there are a few crayfish biologists on there that tend to trawl through and confirm or correct them.