During a recent trip to Tasmania I had the pleasure of seeking some freshwater crayfish between looking at the local tourist attractions. I was there as a tourist for my first look at Tasmania but between traveling to the next tourist attraction I took some time out to look for crayfish and I wasn’t disappointed. Tasmania has an abundance of crayfish species and without too much effort I managed to find a few.
I was excited to find my first Giant Tasmanian Freshwater Lobster Astacopsis gouldi. Although only juveniles I was very interested in their morphology, I’m looking forward to returning and finding a monster one.
http://www.austcray.com/2015/03/the-giant-tasmanian-freshwater-lobster-astacopsis-gouldi-clark-1936/
The first Engaeus species I found was what seems to be Engaeus fossor. I’m unfamiliar with Tassie crayfish so relying on Horwitz 1990, it keys out as Engaeus fossor, if anyone thinks otherwise please let me know. For an article on this species see: http://www.austcray.com/2015/03/burrowing-crayfish-engaeus-fossor/
My next find was totally unexpected, I was delighted at finding this Ombrastacoides crayfish in a small swampy drain on the side of a bush track. This was my first Ombrastacoides crayfish and as per Hanson and Richardson 2006 and it seems to be Ombrastacoides leptomerus. I found a number of these in very different habitats. For an article on Ombrastacoides leptomerus see: http://www.austcray.com/2015/03/ombrastacoides-leptomerus/ or http://www.austcray.com/2015/03/ombrastacoides-leptomerus-2nd/
Engaeus mairener is endemic to north-eastern Tasmania, and seemingly abundant being relatively easy to find and with burrows only 60-70 cm deep, relatively easy to dig. For an article on Engaeus mairener see: http://www.austcray.com/2015/03/engaeus-mairener/
Cheers Rob
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Robert McCormack is the Research and Aquaculture Director for Australian Aquatic Biological P/L. He is a Research Associate with the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, USA, is Secretary of the Aqua Association Incorporated https://www.aqua.asn.au/ and the team leader of the privately funded Australian Crayfish Project, which conducts biological studies of every creek and stream in Australia, collecting and identifying crustaceans. Robert has a passion for freshwater crayfish traveling across Australia to find and photograph them.
