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| Cherax Parvus |
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| Rainforest Yabby |
Cherax Parvus
Rainforest Yabby
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Family: Parastacidae
Genus: Cherax
Species: Cherax Parvus
This is a surprisingly small Cherax species that lives in a relatively remote area west of Innisfall. They live
in tributaries of the Tully River high up the catchment. This trip was especially difficult as it was after dark
which makes things far more difficult. Anyway, we pushed on and started searching the creeks at night for
this elusive crayfish species. The creeks that flow through the area are wide, deep, fast flowing crystal
clear streams. They are sandy creeks with beaches and sand bars with just the odd rock and fallen tree in
them every so often.
Cherax parvus were quick little critters and you would see one but it would scoot away never to be seen
again. We persevered late into the night and unfortunately we did not see any crays out in the creek but we
did manage to get some from under structures along the stream edge. It was surprising that these crays can
survive in a stream full of large fish and shrimp that could easily prey on them. Cherax parvus are small
with a dark olive green and brown mottled colouring and the main distinguishing feature is a patch of long
setae along the dorsal cutting edges and the lack of colouring in their claw tips, (most Queensland Cherax
species have bright red or orange tips to their claws).
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