Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some species are found in brooks and streams, where fresh water is running, while others thrive in swamps, ditches, and paddy fields. Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water, although some species, such as Procambarus clarkii, are hardier. Crayfish feed on animals and plants, either living or decomposing, and detritus.
Cherax tenuimanus, known as the Hairy marron or Margaret River marron, is one of two species of crayfish in Southwestern Australia known as marron. It occupies a narrow range within the southwestern biogeographical region of Margaret River. It is currently listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, because of the threat from the yabbie, Cherax albidus, which was introduced to its habitat.
Cherax quadricarinatus is an Australian freshwater crayfish.
Paranephrops is a genus of freshwater crayfish found only in New Zealand. They are known by the English common names freshwater crayfish and koura, the latter from their Māori name of kōura. The two species are the northern koura, Paranephrops planifrons, found mainly in the North Island, but also in Marlborough, Nelson, and the West Coast of the South Island, and the southern koura, Paranephrops zealandicus, found only in the eastern and southern of the South Island and on Stewart Island/Rakiura. Both species are a traditional food for Māori, and a small koura aquaculture industry supplies the restaurant market.
Engaeus is a genus of freshwater crayfish found in Australia, the burrowing crayfishes. Fifteen of the 35 species in the genus occur in Tasmania, where they are known as the Tasmanian land crayfishes. The behaviour of these crayfish is notable as they live in burrows and construct large "chimneys" at the opening.
Euastacus is a genus of freshwater crayfish known as "spiny crayfish". They are found in the south-east of the Australian mainland, along with another genus of crayfish, Cherax. Both genera are members of the family Parastacidae, a family of freshwater crayfish restricted to the Southern Hemisphere.
Cherax quinquecarinatus is a small freshwater crayfish endemic to the south-west corner of Australia. It is one of two species known as gilgie, or jilgi, which is a seasonal food source for people of the region. Gilgies are found throughout a biogeographically isolated region of the coastal south of Western Australia and are significant in the ecology of aquatic systems of that bioregion.
Astacoides is a genus of freshwater crayfish endemic to Madagascar. The first specimens were brought to Europe in 1839, and seven species are now recognised, most of which are considered as threatened on the IUCN Red List. They are large and slow-growing, and are threatened by habitat loss, overexploitation by local people and by spread of introduced non-indigenous marbled crayfish. They are only found in a relatively small part of the island, mostly in undisturbed upland areas. They belong to the Gondwana-distributed family Parastacidae, but their nearest relatives live in Australasia, there being no native crayfish in mainland Africa or India.
Cherax parvus is a species of crayfish in the family Parastacidae. It is only known from its type locality – the Upper Tully River catchment in the Cardwell Range of north-eastern Queensland – and is listed as data deficient on the IUCN Red List. It was discovered in a rainforest catchment in a highland of northeastern Queensland during a Queensland Museum expedition to the upper Tully River area in November 1992. It is one of the smallest species in the genus. No species of Cherax has been considered endemic to wet upland or highland areas before it was discovered; most previous records were from elevations less than 400 meters. It also has several morphological features unique to the genus, and does not appear closely related to any extant species, suggesting a long period of geographic isolation.
The marbled crayfish or Marmorkrebs is a parthenogenetic crayfish that was discovered in the pet trade in Germany in 1995. Marbled crayfish are closely related to the "slough crayfish", Procambarus fallax, which is widely distributed across Florida. No natural populations of marbled crayfish are known. Information provided by one of the original pet traders as to where the marbled crayfish originated was deemed "totally confusing and unreliable". The informal name Marmorkrebs is German for "marbled crayfish".
Lepidophthalmus turneranus, the Cameroon ghost shrimp, is a species of "ghost shrimp" or "mud lobster" that lives off the coast of West Africa. It occasionally erupts into dense swarms, one of which resulted in the naming of the country Cameroon.
Cherax holthuisi is a species of crayfish from the Bird's Head Peninsula in New Guinea. It grows to a total length of 81–93 mm (3.2–3.7 in) and is typically pink, orange or yellow in wild specimens. It was described in 2006 after animals circulating in the aquarium trade could not be assigned to any known species.
Neoglyphea inopinata is a species of glypheoid lobster, a group thought long extinct before Neoglyphea was discovered. It is a lobster-like animal, up to around 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in length, although without claws. It is only known from 17 specimens, caught at two sites – one at the entrance to Manila Bay in the Philippines, and one in the Timor Sea, north of Australia. Due to the small number of specimens available, little is known about the species, but it appears to live up to five years, with a short larval phase. A second species, previously included in Neoglyphea, is now placed in a separate genus, Laurentaeglyphea.
Euastacus spinifer is a species of freshwater crayfish endemic to Australia that belongs to the family Parastacidae.
The eastern swamp crayfish is a species of small freshwater crayfish from coastal New South Wales, Australia. It is distinguished from related species by large genital papilla on the males, large raised postorbital ridges, a laterally compressed carapace, and elongated chelae.
Cherax pulcher is a species of crayfish from West Papua in Indonesia. It is popular as a freshwater aquarium species across Asia, Europe, and North America.
Cherax snowden is a species of crayfish from West Papua in Indonesia. In the wild, they live in freshwater river tributaries. It is popular as a freshwater aquarium pet across Asia, Europe, and North America because of its orange-tipped claws. Specimens were previously misidentified as members of Cherax holthuisi, also from West Papua.
Ellen Clark (1915–1988) was an Australian carcinologist and naturalist, whose work focused on crustaceans and ants Clark studied, named, described and published many of the Australian freshwater crayfish species. By 1939, she was reported to have identified more than half the known species of Australian crayfish. She conducted research about blood groups in crustaceans and made a significant contribution to the study of crayfish genera. She was the first woman to publish in the Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria.
Cherax preissii, the common koonac, is a Western Australian freshwater crustacean in the Parastacidae family.
Cherax woworae, the steel blue crayfish, is a species of crayfish native to Southwest Papua, a province of Indonesia. The species is popular in the pet trade, in which it is sold under the name "blue moon crayfish". This has led to it becoming an introduced species in other countries, such as Hungary.
