Orconectes shoupi, the Nashville crayfish, is a species of crayfish

Crayfish

Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...

 in the family Cambaridae

Cambaridae

Cambaridae is the largest of the three families of freshwater crayfish, with over 400 species. Most of the species in the family are native to North America east of the Great Divide, such as the invasive species Procambarus clarkii and Orconectes rusticus, with fewer species living in East Asia and...

. It is endemic to Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

.

Orconectes shoupi is a federal and state endangered crayfish that resides on Mill Creek in Davidson

Davidson County, Tennessee

Davidson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 626,681. Its county seat is Nashville.In 1963, the City of Nashville and the Davidson County government merged, so the county government is now known as the "Metropolitan Government of Nashville and...

 and Williamson

Williamson County, Tennessee

Williamson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010 US Census, the population was 183,182. The County's seat is Franklin, and it is part of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county is named after Hugh Williamson, a...

 counties in Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. Horton Hobbs, Jr., discovered this rare crayfish in the 1940s along with C. S. Shoup, a Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

 professor and colleague. The Nashville crayfish is considered an endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

 by the IUCN Red List

IUCN Red List

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...

, due to the threat of urban development, specifically at the mouth of the creek all the way to the headwaters.

The unusual amounts of de-icer

Deicing fluid

Ground deicing of aircraft is commonly performed in both commercial and general aviation. The fluid used in this operation is called de-icing or deicing fluid...

 used at Nashville International Airport

Nashville International Airport

Nashville International Airport is a joint civil-military airport in southeastern Nashville, Tennessee. The IATA Airport Code BNA is derived from the early name of the facility—Berry Field, NAshville. Berry Field was the name of the airport until 1988, when the name was changed to reflect...

 after the increased snowfall in the winter of 2009–2010

North American blizzard of 2009

The North American blizzard of 2009 was a Category 2 nor'easter that formed over the Gulf of Mexico in December 2009 and became a major snowstorm for the East Coast of the United States and Canadian Atlantic provinces...

, may have caused deaths of Orconectes shoupi.