North Carolina Crayfishes 91 



and (3) the young are produced later in the spring (a time of high 

 water, expanded habitat, and increased availability of food). This 

 supports Thorp's (1978:278) statement that in the lower Savannah 

 River basin of South Carolina this species "enters the reproductive 

 period as temperatures are dropping in fall and winter." 



On 17 February 1982, a blue specimen of C. latimanus was 

 found by a worker clearing a muddy ditch at the south end of the 

 Wayne Community College campus in Goldsboro, Wayne County 

 (Neuse River basin). It was taken to Gary W. Woodyard of the 

 college biology faculty, who generously donated it to the N. C. State 

 Museum. The animal, a form II male (NCSM C-775), was generally 

 cobalt blue, with the pigment obviously in the exoskeleton since the 

 underlying chromatophore pattern of blotches and abdominal 

 stripes was clearly visible. The right cheliped was missing, but the 

 left cheliped and all pereiopods were whitish on the ventral surfaces, 

 with a pale bluish tint at the base of the coxa of each limb. The 

 lateral margin of the palm and propodus was very light blue, but 

 the entire dactyl was darker except at the ventral tip. The gonopods 

 (first pleopods), eyestalks, antennae, antennules, and antennal scales 

 were pale blue. There was a small white area on the anterolateral 

 carapace just below the suborbital angle and along part of the margin 

 of the carapace. The small tubercles and punctations of the carapace 

 were points of white, as were the small cervical spines. Most of 

 the ventral abdomen was clear, but the transverse ridges between 

 segments were blue. 



This is the first blue individual reported for this species, and 

 the first blue crayfish reported for any non-blue species in North 

 Carolina. One North Carolina crayfish, Cambarus (Jugicambarus) 

 dubius Faxon, is known to have a cobalt blue color morph. In the area 

 where the blue C. latimanus was found, the species normally is light 

 tan or greenish, with dark brown or green carapace markings and 

 abdominal stripes. Hundreds of normal-colored specimens of this 

 species have been collected in the Neuse River and its tributaries, 

 including a number from Wayne County. 



Fitzpatrick (1987) summarized most of the known records for 

 the "blue color phase" in six crayfish genera, and discussed environ- 

 mental (diet and illumination) versus genetic causes of such color 

 variations. Penn (1951) reported a blue color variant of Procambarus 

 (Scapulicambarus) clarkii (Girard), a normally red species, in 

 Louisiana. Penn later (1959:10) said, "In recent years anomalous bright 

 blue specimens have appeared in several parts of the state . . . ." 

 (That someone may be culturing this obviously genetic variant is 



