How to photograph crayfish for iNaturalist

How to photograph crayfish for inaturalist

In order for crayfish to be adequately identified, it is helpful to provide
a variety of views of the crayfish. Dorsal and lateral views should be
always provided:

In the dorsal view, make sure both the areola and rostrum are
visible:

Lateral view:

Of utmost importance for many species are photos of the gonopod (for
males) or annulus ventralis (for females).

The following image shows the ventral view of an adult male crayfish.
The gonopods are its reproductive organs. They are normally tucked
between the walking legs.

It will often be necessary to pry one into
view with a toothpick or probe. The most useful views are from a
lateral or mesial aspect.

Try to get a closeup view clearly showing the features at the tip:

The following is an image of the ventral side of a female. A closeup
photo of annulus ventralis is very helpful (small round feature between
the last two pairs of walking legs).



Try to get a clear closeup of the annulus ventralis and surrounding area
as follows.

Additional views that may be helpful for identification include:

The chela (claw)

Any hooks present in adult males

The tail fan

הועלה ב-מאי 11, 2018 06:12 אחה"צ על ידי dan_johnson dan_johnson

תגובות

Added this to the "more info" section on the right side of the taxon page>About tab!
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47783-Astacoidea

פורסם על-ידי bouteloua לפני בערך 6 שנים

Ah, good idea! Didn't think about that.

פורסם על-ידי dan_johnson לפני בערך 6 שנים

Excellent journal entry, Dan. I’ve bookmarked this to copy and paste on observations that need some assistance for their crayfish observations! Thanks for putting this together!

פורסם על-ידי sambiology לפני בערך 6 שנים

Very nice. Good information. Thanks.

פורסם על-ידי sagamoreoh לפני כמעט 6 שנים

Thank you for the excellent education on identification of crayfish. Carol R.

פורסם על-ידי carolr לפני כמעט 6 שנים

good info....thanks

פורסם על-ידי blueturtle לפני כמעט 6 שנים

This is great. Thanks for creating this.

פורסם על-ידי sbadams לפני יותר מ 5 שנים

Excellent! I've been meaning to create something like this as it is very useful.

פורסם על-ידי heteromyid לפני יותר מ 5 שנים

Hope to be able to use this excellent guide when I come across another crayfish. Thanks.

פורסם על-ידי mfeaver לפני בערך 5 שנים

excellent post Dan. I wish there were more than 2 easy to identify species in CA so I could start observing crayfish this way - time for a field trip to the southeast

פורסם על-ידי loarie לפני בערך 5 שנים

@loarie -- you're welcome to Texas ANYTIME!!! :)

פורסם על-ידי sambiology לפני בערך 5 שנים

GREAT, thank you

פורסם על-ידי skrentnyjeff לפני יותר מ 3 שנים

thank you

פורסם על-ידי gary-james לפני בערך 3 שנים

Great information, @dan_johnson. You seem to have a way of getting the crawfish to hold still for photos of the gonopod or annulus ventralis. Is it called "cooking"? ;-)

פורסם על-ידי baldeagle לפני יותר מ 2 שנים

I'll keep this in mind!

פורסם על-ידי that_bug_guy לפני 10 חודשים

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