FISHO last week received an interesting email that now appears to have “gone viral”, going by the amount of times it’s turned up since…
The accompanying photos contained in the email were apparently taken at remote Cooper Creek, which flows out of the recently flood filled Lake Eyre in south-east Central Australia, and crosses the South Australian and Queensland borders (see map). The images highlight thousands of yabbies, or more specifically western blue claw yabbies or blue claw crayfish, that appear to be involved in a form of mass migration (scroll down for images).
For the record these yabbies grow to around 350 grams, with the average being 120–150
grams and can live for up to 7 years.
Fisho contacted Queensland Fisheries to see if they could shed some light on this natural phenomenon.
A Fisheries Queensland spokesperson told us, “The yabbies in these pictures appear to be attempting to disperse upstream during a flow event, and are amassing at the road culvert.
“To reduce impact on fisheries, which sometimes does occur around culverts such as these, Fisheries Queensland works with local councils to introduce and design road culverts that are fish friendly and ease fish movement along our waterways.”
Did you happen to witness this event or have you seen something similar? – we’d love to hear from you.
