White-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes

The White-clawed Crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) is Britain’s only native freshwater crayfish and one of its most threatened aquatic invertebrates. It has declined catastrophically following the introduction of the North American Signal Crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus), which outcompetes it and carries crayfish plague – a disease lethal to white-clawed but not signal crayfish. In Suffolk, populations have been severely impacted, and the species is now confined to a small number of remaining sites where signal crayfish have not yet established. Maintaining these refuges – alongside the creation of carefully managed, isolated ark sites – is central to the species’ survival in the county. Any records of white-clawed crayfish in Suffolk are of significant conservation importance. Image: © tizianopascutto, iNaturalist. 

Find out more: iNaturalist, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, JNCC – Species description, Suffolk LNRS information page