SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Zoo announced the hatchings of nearly 50 Oklahoma Cave Crayfish, “one of the rarest crayfish species in North America.”
The crayfish were born at the zoo’s Center for Conservation & Research, becoming the first to be hatched under the care of humans.
The Oklahoma Cave Crayfish, which average no more than three inches in length, are only found in caves and underground watersheds in one county in Northeast Oklahoma. They are colorless with no external eyes and are at risk due to groundwater pollution.
Because they are only found in Oklahoma, there is a critical threat level for their existence.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation states the crayfish are designated as “state endangered,” though authorities are reviewing the species for possible inclusion on the endangered species list by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
The zoo stated that Dr. Danté Fenolio, the vice president of CCR, started a collaborative effort to conserve the crayfish in 2000.
The CCR’s partners included the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Ozark Plateau National Wildlife Refuge, The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, the Nature Conservancy, the Tulsa Regional Oklahoma Grotto, the Subterranean Biodiversity Project, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Fenolio and a team of researchers studied their population size, longevity and population use, the zoo stated. They also marked certain crayfish with acrylic elastomer tattoos, which could be seen under a black light, to identify them during their studies.
Back in San Antonio, researchers studied their reproductive biology and longevity at CCR’s facility, leading to the successful births of 47 crayfish.
“In a groundbreaking first, the lab bore witness to the deposition of eggs by a female and the subsequent successful hatching of these eggs,” the release states.
The zoo added that this is only the second breeding of a blind, white, and “cave-adapted” crayfish in a controlled environment.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the team,” zoo President and CEO Tim Morrow said in the release. “Their unwavering dedication and passion have propelled them to achieve remarkable milestones in their projects and research, surpassing all expectations. This team, our conservation partners and the entire zoo crew are literally working around the clock and relentlessly to save species and our planet.”
The findings will be documented and published as conservation efforts for the crayfish continue, the zoo added.
“This species really needs our help,” Fenolio said in the release. “Very little is known about how subterranean crayfishes make a living. Learning about the reproduction of this species will tell us a lot about how resilient or not wild populations are. It will help us inform conservation policy.”
“This is a significant accomplishment and conservation action step.”
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