#parastacidae

Newly Described Crayfish from Papua New Guinea

Cherax nigli, family Parastacidae

Gippsland Burrowing Crayfish Engaeus hemicirratulus

A crayfish found in south Victoria, Australia.

A Fitzroy Falls spiny crayfish (Euastacus dharawalus) in the Sydney Basin, New South Wales, Australia

One of Aotearoa's two endemic freshwater crayfish - this one is most common on the North Island, and along the West Coast of South Island. Both Paranephrops are important resources to the indigenous Māori, and surprisingly given the troubles facing every second species I've covered lately, are not considered treatened.

Parastacid crayfish are found only in the Southern Hemisphere, with extant members in South America, Madagascar, Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea, and extinct taxa in Antarctica - a classic Gondwanan distribution. They're most diverse in Australia.

The giant Tasmanian freshwater lobster (or the giant Tasmanian freshwater crayfish) is the largest freshwater invertebrate in the world. This species of crayfish can weigh up to 6 kg (13 lbs) and grows to 80 cm (31 in) long over a period of 30 to 60 years.

(Image: A Tasmanian giant freshwater lobster (Astacopsis gouldi) by Dan Broun)

Southern hairy crayfish (Euastacus hirsutus) in an Australian creek bed

Two New Species of Crayfish from New Guinea:

family Parastacidae

L - Cherax rayko

R - Cherax phing

Crayfish (Cherax pulcher), family Parastacidae, from freshwater streams in West Papua, Indonesia