10: Causey’s Crayfish

Hello,

I write to you from Arapahoe, Ute, and Cheyenne land. I am interested in learning about the different animals that live in the place where I was born. I want to mention that biological classification as taught by western science has its roots in racism, sexism, and transphobia – here’s a good explainer about why.

Come with me on a journey into a tunnel under rocks embedded in the substrate of a stream or riverbed, the burrow of a Causey’s crayfish (Faxonius causeyi or Orconectes causeyi). There isn’t too much to say about these guys except that they love to reproduce and are an invasive species in Colorado, first spotted here in 1975.

They were named for Nell Bevel Causey, who was born in 1910 and named a LOT of species. I guess it was probably pretty easy in the mid 20th century to name a species that a indigenous people had probably known about for millennia after yourself.

Tomorrow we will talk about a pretty cool, if very invasive, sounding fish…