Redclaws are reared directly in the juvenile ponds. Breeding and production of seed occurs naturally during the summer months, when temperatures are >25✬. Selected berried females or mature broodstock from the harvests of grow-out ponds are stocked into juvenile rearing ponds. Hatchlings resemble the adult form and remain attached to the underside of the female for several weeks before progressively becoming independent. There may be between three to five broods during the breeding season. Most produce between 300 and 800 eggs per brood. Reproduction will only occur while water temperature remains above 23✬.įemale redclaw brood their eggs for six-ten weeks, depending on temperature. Its preferred temperature range is 23✬ to 31✬ and it will perish at 36✬. The harsh physical extremes of this distribution have given this species a robust nature with broad climatic tolerances. Redclaw is a tropical species endemic to northeastern Australia.
Non aggressive – cannibalism not regarded as an issue.This provides broad geographic potential and a means of enhancing flavour, purging and cleaning before sending to market Tolerates saline water up to 5 percent indefinitely and up to 15 percent for several days.Tolerant of variations in water quality - low dissolved oxygen, wide daily pH changes, low alkalinity, temperature variations, high nutrient loads.Survives well out of water for transport to market.Reaches commercial size in nine months grow-out.Flesh texture and flavour compares favourably with other crustaceans.Market position as a high value crustacean.Requires low protein diet, not reliant on fishmeal.Potential for selective breeding many wild population strains.Breeds easily, with no larval stage development.Its adaptation to the natural habitat has generated a host of biological attributes that are well suited to aquaculture, as summarised below: Redclaw display a strong tendency to move upstream to the preferred habitat, and to avoid being stranded in the lower river reaches that often dry up in the dry season.
These are flushed seasonally with monsoonal wet season rains, which may wash the redclaw downstream. Its preferred habitat is in high turbidity, slow moving streams or static water holes (billabongs) that characterise the rivers in that region. Redclaw is native to the upper reaches of rivers in northeastern Australia, and in Papua New Guinea. Its texture and flavour compares very favourably with commonly eaten marine crustaceans and, having the appearance of a lobster, is positioned at the premium end of the crustacean market spectrum. It is physically robust with broad geographic potential, has a simple life-cycle and straightforward production technology, requires low protein diet and is economic to produce. Redclaw benefits from a host of physical, biological and commercial attributes that make it an excellent candidate for aquaculture. Redclaw proved to be well suited to cultivation, and the redclaw aquaculture industry was born, developing quickly and spreading throughout northern Australia, and soon afterwards overseas. Although well known to the local inhabitants of this isolated region, it remained effectively unknown to the rest of the world until the late 1980s, when it was trialled for aquaculture.
The red claw crayfish ( Cherax quadricarinatus), referred to throughout the rest of this fact sheet simply by its Australian synonym "redclaw", is a tropical species native to the rivers of north-west Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia.
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