Austin Peay-led research team names new crayfish species for 101st Airborne
(Posted March 6, 2019; updated Aug. 12, 2019, with new photos; crayfish photo courtesy of Carl Williams)
The stream beds on the Tennessee side of Fort Campbell harbor a rare treasure, a rusty-brown crayfish with white-tipped claws that exists nowhere else in the world.
Former Austin Peay State University graduate student Erin Bloom led the research that identified the crayfish as a new species. She and her teammates named the new species the Screaming Eagle Crayfish in honor of the troops of the 101st Airborne Division.
鈥淭hat was probably one of the most overwhelming parts of this for me was trying to come up with a name,鈥 Bloom, now a biology professor at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, said. 鈥淲e knew we wanted to pay tribute to where the crayfish is found. Because the majority of them are found on Fort Campbell, we thought it would be perfect.鈥
Even the Screaming Eagle Crayfish鈥檚 scientific name salutes the 101st Airborne. Faxonius bellator loosely translates to 鈥渃rayfish warrior.鈥
DISCOVERING THE SCREAMING EAGLE CRAYFISH
Though the Screaming Eagle Crayfish has had its new name for only a couple of months, it has had a home at Fort Campbell for years. Nobody until now knew the crayfish lived only in Montgomery County and almost entirely on the Army post.
Bloom鈥檚 research determined the crayfish lives in only three streams on post and one stream at Billy Dunlop Park in Clarksville, where it鈥檚 seemingly rare. She and her teammates 鈥 APSU biology graduate Brittany McCall, APSU biology professor and Center of Excellence for Field Biology Principle Investigator Dr. Rebecca Blanton Johansen and retired Eastern Kentucky University biology professor Guenter Schuster 鈥 published their work Jan. 7 in the Journal of Crustacean Biology. The APSU Center of Excellence for Field Biology supported the research.
Johansen credits the 2008 survey work of BHE Environmental (now a part of Power Engineers), particularly that of her colleague Bruce Bauer, for the crayfish鈥檚 initial discovery. The surveyors were studying crayfish, stoneflies, dragonflies and damselflies, specifically.
鈥淭hey noticed this crayfish on Fort Campbell as something weird, and they couldn鈥檛 quite figure out what it was,鈥 Johansen said. 鈥淓rin came in, and we took this project on, to look at this weird crayfish to see what species it was or if it was something new.鈥
Added Bloom: 鈥淔or me, it was really a puzzle I wanted to solve.鈥
鈥榃ASN鈥橳 SUPPOSED TO BE HERE鈥
The research started in 2013 as Bloom pursued her master鈥檚 degree at Austin Peay. McCall, an APSU undergraduate at the time, and Schuster, a renowned crayfish expert, soon joined the project, which lasted about three years.
They determined the Fort Campbell crayfish had similarities to the Barren River Crayfish endemic to the Green River system in Kentucky and Tennessee and to the Wonderful Crayfish endemic to the Tennessee River system in Alabama and Tennessee.
The BHE Environmental surveyors initially thought the Fort Campbell crayfish were Barren River Crayfish but couldn鈥檛 figure out how they had crossed into the Red River system.
鈥淭he surveyors and crayfish experts like Bruce Bauer thought it was odd because that crayfish wasn鈥檛 supposed to be here,鈥 Johansen said.
Bloom and her team discovered the Fort Campbell crayfish had features different from the Barren River Crayfish from the Barren River and the Wonderful Crayfish of the Tennessee River. McCall鈥檚 and Bloom鈥檚 extensive lab work and DNA tests helped prove the Fort Campbell crayfish was, in fact, a distinct species.
While Bloom led efforts for DNA sequencing, McCall spent nearly an entire summer in the lab measuring 243 crayfish from Fort Campbell and the Barren River and Tennessee River systems, taking about two dozen sets of measurements for each crayfish, much of the work under a dissecting microscope.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not something you鈥檇 think you can do as an undergraduate, participating in research like this,鈥 she said.
DEFINING SCREAMING EAGLE鈥橲 VULNERABILITY
The Screaming Eagle crayfish looks like the Barren River Crayfish and Wonderful Crayfish, but 鈥渨ith a little practice, you can tell them apart,鈥 Johansen said. 鈥淎nd compared with other species of crayfish that you will encounter where it is found, they鈥檙e easy to recognize, the tips of their claws are pale, almost white, and their shape is different.鈥
The newly named crayfish is rare, and it鈥檚 vulnerable.
鈥淚t鈥檚 in a very small area,鈥 Bloom said. 鈥淲e sampled other areas surrounding Fort Campbell, other streams in the Red River system, just to see if there were any other localities where we could find this crayfish, and we just haven鈥檛 been able to find them elsewhere.鈥
Even at Billy Dunlop Park, the crayfish is hard to find. The team found only eight specimens during four trips to the park, Bloom said.
鈥淕iven its small range, there is a conservation concern,鈥 Johansen said. 鈥淚t seems to be declining in occurrence at Billy Dunlop, and it鈥檚 concerning that the West Fork of the Red River has really been hit hard by development.鈥
PUBLICATION AND MORE WORK TO COME
After the team鈥檚 research ended in 2015, Bloom and Johansen worked for a couple of years on the manuscript, which they submitted to the Journal of Crustacean Biology last fall. McCall earned her master鈥檚 at Arkansas State University, where she鈥檚 now pursuing her doctorate in environmental sciences.
鈥淲e all worked on it so long that when we finally got the email to say it was ready for publication, it was just kind of like, 鈥榃ait, what? It鈥檚 really done?鈥 Bloom said. 鈥淏ut we aren鈥檛 done.鈥
鈥淲e want to focus on the life history of these guys,鈥 she added. 鈥淲e know when reproductively active males and females are present, but as far as food habits, etc., we just haven鈥檛 had the chance. We are hoping to start that soon.鈥
Bloom and Johansen might be back at Fort Campbell this summer tracking the lives of the tiny creatures now known as the Screaming Eagle Crayfish, a name especially important to McCall.
鈥淭o pay homage to my hometown, and to my Fort Campbell family, is important to me,鈥 the Northeast High School graduate said. 鈥淚t feels good to give back in any way I can.鈥
TO LEARN MORE
- To read Bloom, McCall, Schuster and Johansen鈥檚 study, click .
- For more about the APSU Department of Biology, visit www.apsu.edu/biology.
- For more about the Center of Excellence for Field Biology, go to /field-biology.
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