Common yabby
| Common yabby | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Malacostraca |
| Order: | Decapoda |
| Superfamily: | Parastacoidea |
| Family: | Parastacidae |
| Genus: | Cherax |
| Species: | C. destructor |
| Binomial name | |
|
Cherax destructor Clark, 1936 |
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| External identifiers for Cherax destructor | |
|---|---|
| Encyclopedia of Life | 3020238 |
| NCBI | 6723 |
| Also found in: , ARKive, ToLWeb | |
The common yabby (Cherax destructor) is an Australian freshwater crustacean in the Parastacidae family. It is listed as a vulnerable species of crayfish by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), though the validity of this listing is questionable; wild yabby populations remain strong, and have expanded into new habitats created by reservoirs and farm dams.
Its common name of "yabby" is also applied to many other Australian Cherax species of crustacean (as well as to marine ghost shrimp of the infraorder Thalassinidea). Yabbies occasionally reach up to 30 cm (12 in) in length, but are more commonly 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long.
Colour is highly variable and depends on water clarity and habitat; yabbies can range from black, blue-black, or dark brown in clear waters to light brown, green-brown, or beige in turbid waters. Yabbies specifically bred to be a vibrant blue colour are now popular in the aquarium trade in Australia.
Yabbies are common in Victoria and New South Wales, although the species also occurs in southern Queensland, South Australia, throughout parts of the Northern Territory and even as low as Tasmania, making it the most widespread Australian crayfish. It has been introduced to Western Australia, where it is an invasive species and poses a threat to other Cherax crayfish species native to the region, such as gilgies (Cherax quinquecarinatus).
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