Cambaroides japonicus

Cambaroides japonicus, also known as Japanese crayfish (ニホンザリガニ, Nihon zarigani), is a species of crayfish endemic to Japan.[2]

Cambaroides japonicus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Cambaroididae
Genus: Cambaroides
Species:
C. japonicus
Binomial name
Cambaroides japonicus
(De Haan, 1841)

They are small in size (6 cm) and grayish in color. Its front claws are much weaker than the American crayfish, which is an invasive species in Japan. The Japanese crayfish needs low temperature and high water purity, so they live in upper streams of rivers or lakes in highland regions. The distribution of Japanese crayfish comprises Hokkaidō and northern Tōhoku (the northern area of Honshū).

The Environmental Agency (now Ministry of Environment) of Japan added it as a vulnerable species (IUCN category) to the Red Data List in 2000. It is thought that the causes of its decrease are corruption of water quality and the spread of the American crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus, which was imported in the 20th century and has steadily proliferated in northern Japan.[3] Some suspect that this American crayfish carries some disease, such as the crayfish plague known in Europe, that eliminates endemic crayfish.

References
  1. T. Kawai & Y. Machino (2010). "Cambaroides japonicus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T153751A4540770. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T153751A4540770.en. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  2. Tadashi Kawai & Gerhard Scholtz (2002). "Behavior of juveniles of the Japanese endemic species Cambaroides japonicus (Decapoda: Astacidea: Cambaridae), with observations on the position of the spermatophore attachment on adult females". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 22 (3): 532–537. doi:10.1651/0278-0372(2002)022[0532:BOJOTJ]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 1549735.
  3. Kazuyoshi Nakata; Akira Tanaka & Seiji Goshima (2004). "Reproduction of the alien crayfish species Pacifastacus leniusculus in Lake Shikaribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan". Journal of Crustacean Biology. 24 (3): 496–501. doi:10.1651/C-2484.
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