Cherax quadricarinatus (known by several common names, including Australian red claw crayfish, Queensland red claw, redclaw, tropical blue crayfish, freshwater blueclaw crayfish) is an Australian freshwater crayfish.
The colour of C. quadricarinatus ranges from dark brown to blue-green. Their heads have four keels (as inferred by the epithet), and adult males have a distinct red patch on the outer margin of the claws.[5] They can reach up to 600 grams (21 oz).[5]
Females, which are smaller than males, spawn 300–800 olive-green eggs per brood,[6] which are fertilised from a spermatophore which the male has deposited at the base of her walking legs (pereiopods) during mating. Fertilised eggs are affixed to the female's pleopods, situated on the underside of the tail. Incubation takes approximately six weeks and the newly hatched juveniles rapidly become independent.[6]
C. quadricarinatus is often kept in aquariums worldwide, and is the only species of crayfish that can be kept in indoor aquaria for ornamental use in the UK (except Scotland) without a licence.[7][8]
It is farmed commercially in Queensland and the Northern Territory, and is harvested at between 35–130 grams (1.2–4.6 oz).[6]C. quadricarinatus is a sought-after product with a delicate crustacean flavour. They are both non-aggressive in nature as well as highly fertile, and can therefore be bred in large numbers in captivity. Time to sexual maturity, and therefore harvest size, is somewhere between six and twelve months in optimally farmed conditions.
^Nakayama, Shouta M. M.; Ikenaka, Yoshinori; Muzandu, Kaampwe; Choongo, Kennedy; Oroszlany, Balazs; Teraoka, Hiroki; Mizuno, Naoharu; Ishizuka, Mayumi (2010). "Heavy Metal Accumulation in Lake Sediments, Fish (Oreochromis niloticus and Serranochromis thumbergi), and Crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) in Lake Itezhi-tezhi and Lake Kariba, Zambia". Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 59 (2): 291–300. doi:10.1007/s00244-010-9483-8. hdl:2115/43285. ISSN0090-4341. PMID20162262.
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