Cambarellus patzcuarensis is a crayfish

Crayfish

Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...

 in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Cambaridae

Cambaridae

Cambaridae is the largest of the three families of freshwater crayfish, with over 400 species. Most of the species in the family are native to North America east of the Great Divide, such as the invasive species Procambarus clarkii and Orconectes rusticus, with fewer species living in East Asia and...

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Description

It has a body measuring 4–5 cm (1.6–2 ), including claws. Most specimens found in the wild are brown, sometimes with a gray or blue tint. Cambarellus patzcuarensis var. "Orange" (Mexican dwarf crayfish, sometimes Mexican dwarf orange crayfish) is an orange-coloured mutation often held in aquariums, but this form is rarely found in the wild.

Distribution

The species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 is named after Lake Pátzcuaro

Lake Pátzcuaro

Lake Pátzcuaro is a lake in the municipality of Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico.The natives believe that the lake is the place where the barrier between life and death is the thinnest....

, at an altitude of 2035 metres (6,676.5 ft) in Michoacán

Michoacán

Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. As well as Lake Pátzcuaro, C. patzcuarensis also occurs in springs in Chapultepec

Chapultepec

Chapultepec Park, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" in Mexico City, is the largest city park in Latin America, measuring in total just over 686 hectares. Centered on a rock formation called Chapultepec Hill, one of the park's main functions is to be an ecological space in the vast...

, Opopeo and Tzurumutaro.

Conservation

C. patzcuarensis is listed as an endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

 on the IUCN Red List

IUCN Red List

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...

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