---
title: "Virile Crayfish"
description: "Faxonius virilis — Other animals. Faxonius virilis is a species of crayfish known as the virile crayfish, northern crayfish, eastern crayfish, and lesser known as the lake crayfish or common crawfish."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/virile-crayfish
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Virile Crayfish

> Faxonius virilis — Other animals. Faxonius virilis is a species of crayfish known as the virile crayfish, northern crayfish, eastern crayfish, and lesser known as the lake crayfish or common crawfish.

- Scientific name: *Faxonius virilis*
- Category: `other` (Other animals)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 11404
- iNaturalist taxon: [776137](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/776137)

## Names

- en: Virile Crayfish
- de: Viril-Flusskrebs
- es: Lagostino viril
- fr: Écrevisse à pinces bleues

## Countries with the most observations

US (6205), CA (1972), MX (22), NL (21), GB (4)

## Summary

Faxonius virilis is a species of crayfish known as the virile crayfish, northern crayfish, eastern crayfish, and lesser known as the lake crayfish or common crawfish. Faxonius virilis was reclassified in August 2017, and the genus was changed from Orconectes to Faxonius. It is native to the central United States, east to tributaries of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River in New York and to much of Canada.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faxonius_virilis

## Photo

![Virile Crayfish](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/virile-crayfish/medium.jpg)

Photo: Ken Kneidel · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/60745087

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/virile-crayfish?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).