Crayfish

Our final morning on board for this trip.  I was in the cabin when "The Mate" started shouting "come quick, come quick".  Clickychick told him I was busy only to get the reply "tell him to stop what he is doing and come here".

As I always sometimes  do as I am told I went to the stern to see what was going on.   "Is that a Crayfish?" was the question.   Yes!  Oh I thought so but I have only ever seen one on a barbie in Australia!


It was siting just below the water line on the neighbouring boat.  The blue line is the water line, I am not sure why it has turned out so bright.  I think it is a Signal Crayfish for the following reasons.  It doesn't look quite right for the White Clawed I am used to, something about the tail.  It looks bigger than any White Clawed I have every seen and the white/blue of the pincer joint at the bottom of the picture suggest signal.


Signal Crayfish are an invassive species which are taking over from our White Clawed.  Being larger and a serious predator it kills off young White Clawed leaving non to grow and replace the older generations until the species dies out.