Growth in the Australian freshwater crayfish, Cherax destructor Clark, under laboratory conditions

Abstract

Small (0.08 to 6.1 g) crayfish were grown at 26�C under three treatments: held individually and fed 3% or 10% of body weight per day, or held communally and fed the higher ration. Moult increments, expressed as length or weight increment (%), were smaller and intermoult periods were longer in the crayfish held communally or, particularly, in crayfish fed low rations; this resulted in lower growth in these treatments. Crayfish from three geographically discrete populations held individually and fed the higher ration showed relationships between log moult increment in weight and log premoult weight; further, the length of the intermoult period increased with size for these populations. Models for average growth showed that C. destructor may grow from 0.1 g to 40 g in approximately 230 days. Growth may have been suppressed in the culture system because of the size of containers, the entirely artificial diet and the variable water quality.

The effect of dietary protein source on growth and carcass composition in juvenile Australian freshwater crayfish

“…Percentage consumption of food decreased as animals grew, and is consistent with the reduced metabolic requirement with size (Musgrove, 1993). Growth in this trial was slower than that reported for similar sized yabbies fed natural diets in intensive culture conditions (Geddes et al, 1988;Jones et al, 1995), or in pond production environments (Mills and McCloud, 1983;. This highlights the necessity for additional detailed studies, to identify the growth enhancing components present in the natural diet of these crayfish.…”

Genetic differences in growth among wild populations of the yabby, Cherax destructor (Clark)

“…The demonstration that intraspecific variation in morphology and growth exists in C. destructor is consistent with the results from other smaller‐scale trials that have examined this issue in this species. Geddes, Mills & Walker (1988) found variation in the relationships describing growth increment and intermoult period among three yabby populations from South Australia and Queensland. Faster growth was attributable to larger growth increments in proportion to body size, coupled with decreased intermoult periods.…”

“…The demonstration that intraspecific variation in morphology and growth exists in C. destructor is consistent with the results from other smaller-scale trials that have examined this issue in this species. Geddes, Mills & Walker (1988) found variation in the relationships describing growth increment and Sexes that are significantly different for mean weight are indicated by different superscripts and were determined using the SNK test with the experiment-wise error rate a 0.05; n number of juveniles per sex. Table 5 Mean proportion of abdomen length against total body length (AL/(OCL TL)) and SEM for sex and each of the five yabby populations at the four measurement periods intermoult period among three yabby populations from South Australia and Queensland.…”

Substrate selection and effect of different substrates on survival and growth of juveniles of the freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens 1868) (Decapoda, Parastacidae)

“…Higher frequency of molts indicates a faster rate of growth, which on one hand is beneficial; however, it also leads to a critical event in these animals' lives by making them vulnerable to attacks by conspecifics that are often their predators. Studies carried out in other Australian parastacids showed that individual rearing systems had a higher survival rate than communal rearing (Geddes et al 1988;Du Boulay et al 1993;Morrissy et al 1995). On the other hand, the higher risk of mortality due to cannibalism at the early stages of life than in the later stages may partially explain the higher survival rate of advanced juveniles compared to that of early juveniles.…”