or you may call them Crawfish, Crawdads or Crayfish, their more common common name. This photo was taken back in October at Spring Canyon in Gadsden County Florida. This is the steephead-fed beginnings of Crooked Creek. I had no idea there were mudbugs here and was happy to spot 2 that morning. This is in a steady flow about 3-4” deep. Wiki tells me there are 3 families of crawfish in North America with the Southeast having more species than anywhere else. Nice to see they are native to the PNW altho there are invasive species everywhere as they have been purposely introduced or released as former pets. I don’t know enough to identify this species pictured but, given where it is, I’ll assume it is native.
Here’s a nice article about Crooked Creek that I found but it’s another CC in Florida. I imagine there are several. This 2003 article talks about development in the Panhandle near Destin and Port St Joe. Yeah it’s a done deal at this point.
Wonderful article on Steepheads ravines here — and it has a photo of our own Bruce Means.
These ravines, which drop to 100 feet deep in places—and at 45-degree angles—were dubbed “steepheads” by early settlers. Unlike common gullies, cut by temporary flooding, steepheads are permanent features with spring-fed creeks that never dry up, even in drought conditions, and that flow into the nearby Apalachicola. Over time, steepheads migrate headward and laterally in serpentine patterns that can stretch for miles as the springs beneath them slowly cut down their sandy banks.
Short bucket today — haven’t been taking many photos the last couple weeks. It rained again overnight, only an inch, and about 3” total as the storm finally passes thru the Southeast. This morning before sunrise it was 70º and the dewpoint was 69. Last I looked it was 71 & 70 but the sun is out and things are drying out. The Resurrection Ferns are very happy now but will probably shrivel up again. See ya in the comments with news of your backyard!