Identifying Freshwater Crayfish in South West WA

Yabby

(two species in WA) Cherax albidus and C. destructor

Yabbies are an introduced species to WA. They are native to New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, and were stocked into farm dams in WA in 1932. Yabbies can now be found in some rivers and irrigation dams of the South West.

Yabbies are much smaller than marron and koonacs - very few yabbies grow 130 mm long. Their heads have four keels, with two keels being very obvious, and have short rostrums with no spines. The inner edges of the chelipeds have a mat of very obvious hairs not found on other crayfish species in WA. Yabbies can range in colour from a beige or coffee colour to almost black. They can also take on a blue colour when held in aquariums for a long time.

Yabbies are a threat to the marron fishery, as they breed faster and may carry diseases which affect other freshwater crayfish. Help preserve native species; never release yabbies into rivers, lakes and dams and do not use them as live bait. If you catch one, keep it.

Yabby photo and drawings