After 18 years of research by the Australian Crayfish Project ACP we have finally published a manuscript in the Journal of Crustacean Biology on the endangered intermediate group crayfish Euastacus gamilaroi. It’s a high altitude cold water species with a very restricted range along the top of the Great Divide occurring in both the Manning River (eastern drainage) and Peel River (western drainage).
Research after the 2019-2020 mega bushfires proved the species has zero tolerance to very high intensity bushfire and this was an extinction level event for the species. Low to moderate bushfires had little to no impact only very high intensity was a catastrophic event.
For Further Information
Robert B McCormack, Nick S Whiterod, Biology, distribution, and conservation of the Gamilaroi crayfish Euastacus gamilaroi Morgan, 1997 (Decapoda: Astacidea: Parastacidae), a freshwater crayfish from New South Wales, Australia, Journal of Crustacean Biology, Volume 44, Issue 1, March 2024, ruae009, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcbiol/ruae009
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.
