What’s the world’s largest freshwater invertebrate? Guess!
Answer: it’s the endangered Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish (Astacopsis gouldi). Wikipedia describes it:
Individuals of over 5 kilograms (11 lb) in weight and over 80 centimetres (31 in) long have been known in the past, but now, even individuals over 2 kilograms (4.4 lb) are rare. The species is only found in Tasmanian rivers flowing north into the Bass Strait below 400 metres (1,300 ft) above sea level, and is listed as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List. The specific epithet gouldi commemorates the Australian naturalist John Gould.
A. gouldi is very long-lived, surviving for up to 40 years. Their main predators are humans, platypus, river blackfish and rakali.
Here’s a photo. The crayfish looks bigger than it is because it’s foreshortened, but still, look at its size compared to the man’s hands. That’s a big crustacean!:
You can read about the decline of this animal at The Australian (note, you can go there only once without paying). It’s time for the Tasmanians to put some serious effort into saving this animal, and to stop eating it! Here’s a video:
h/t: Piotr Naskrecki
I hope it managed to turn over!
I’m guessing the Tasmanians like to eat it with drawn butter and lemon.
What a beautiful animal! No wikipedia, please! Not authoritative.
I’m curious… would you consider any of these authoritative references?
“Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Lobster (Astacopsis gouldi)”. Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. February 9, 2007.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 3.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“ADW: Astacopsis gouldi: Information”. Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
“Threatened species and ecological communities publications – Biodiversity”. Australian Government – Department of the Environment and Heritage.
or
“A Giant’s Tale: the life history of Astacopsis gouldi (Decapoda: Parastacidae) a freshwater crayfish from Tasmania.” Freshwater Crayfish 11 pp. 13-33.
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Joe: Please, relax — this post isn’t someone’s term paper. I’d agree that the Wiki model doesn’t work so well for contentious political issues or personae.. But for science in general, natural history in particular, it’s pretty good — most people editing the articles are at least informed enthusiasts and in many cases seem to be professionals in the fields where they contribute wikis. And they do provide references, even though many are not accessible for someone without an institutional library account.
I’m expecially impressed by how quickly articles go up on new discoveries — often hours after a Nature or Science embargo — very possibly by someone who had prepublication access to the discorvery.
And please don’t tell me which references I’m not permitted to use. Read the Roolz (and the citations given in the Wikipedia article if you think its statements are bogus).
Wikipedia is an extremely useful source and often has the best-written description of technical subjects on the Web. e.g. chemical compounds, geometry, aerodynamics (the first three topics I thought of off the top of my head – but check out the entries on e.g. phenol, ellipse, Mach number for verification)
It is not complete – some topics are just stubs, others are contentious – but enjoining ‘no Wikipedia’ is as blinkered as ‘no newspapers’ would be.
cr
Wikipedia is an extremely useful resource and a great place to start in one’s investigations. It has been shown to be more accurate than text books on many topics.
Yes – Gould was not by any definition ‘Australian’. He went there but was born in Dorset & died in London!
Read the Gould page for details! 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gould
I always like to use Wikipedia – you can as others say above, always check the references they give. It is mostly reliable & probably, like ALL sources, needs to be used with caution.
I just did a minor edit to correct that. This is why Wikipedia is so useful. We can all help keep it accurate.
I had a photo of one of these as my Windows desktop. One of m,y coworkers, who hailed from southern Louisiana, took one look at it and said reverently (and in a deep Cajun accent) “If you had one of those down home, they’d make you governor for life!”
Now that is funny!
Good gracious that’s big! I’m surprised it says one of their main predators are the platypus. I’ve seen platypus, and I’d be more afraid of that thing eating them than the other way around.
More likely the baby crayfishes. Recently molted larger crayfishes would also be vulnerable, I would imagine.
There’s good eating in one o’them…..unfortunate for the species though!
Crikey! We’re going to need a lot of rice!
Crustaceans typically bear the burden of being delicious. Crabs, delicious. Lobster, delicious. Mud-bugs (which is what we call crayfish in the south) delicious. And just about everything, birds, people, fish, loves to eat shrimp.
It’s a tough life under hte shell.
I read that initially as “Their main prey are humans…”
I, for one, would not be holding anything with chelae that big as cavalierly as that human in the picture is doing.
“cavalierly” made me think of horses and then I imagined riding the crayfish, who would be wearing a hat (I’m not sure about the last bit).
I think these could be farmed, and the farmed animals could be eaten, thus reducing pressure on harvesting them from the wild.
ALternatively, the farmed ones could be released to the wild to replenish the natural stocks.
An excellent idea, I think, from both a business and ecological perspective. I think you are correct that these could be farmed. My neighbor works at a lab that figures out how to do just such things.
I, too, immediately thought of farming them. And then, whomever buys the rights and sets up that farm in Louisiana can still be “governor for life”, as another poster joked. It sure would be better than a lot of governors that state has had.
sub
Amazing beasty! I’ve never heard of or seen this species. Tasmania has (and had) some incredible animals. Hopefully this species won’t go the way of the Tasmanian Tiger.
I grew up in Tasmania. We used to see these animals in the creeks on my grandparents’ farm. Thanks for the nostalgic article.
Sub
The crayfish looks like it’s smiling.
I had dinner at an old mill in September and was seated right at the window over the stream. I saw a crayfish wandering around the bottom & couldn’t stop watching for it for the whole dinner!
Looking at it, I’m going to guess that’s easier said than done.
Those crafty Taswegians have been keeping these guys quiet, I had no idea they even existed and I’m only across Bass Strait. I’m not surprised they’re endangered though, they look yummy. I hope they can keep them from dying out altogether.