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CRUSTACEANS. 



The Crustaceans which at present find a place in the 

 fisheries of New South Wales are as follows : — Two species 

 of marine Crayfish or Spiny Lobster of the ^enus Palinurits 

 {P. hiigelii and P. edwardsii) ; one Freshwater Crayfish — 

 or " Murrumbidgee " Crayfish as it is called — {Astacopsis 

 spinifera) ; not less than half-a-dozen species of Prawn of 

 the genus Pence us, of which the principal are (i) the 

 School Prawn {P. macleayi), (2) the King Prawn {P. canalicu- 

 latits), and (3) the Tiger Prawn (P. monodon); two species 

 of Shrimps or " Long-armed Prawns, " of the genus 

 PalcBmon, one from the estuaries and the other from the 

 rivers; and five species of Swimming Crab, as follows — 

 (i) the Blue Swimming Crab {Liipa pelagica), (2) the Mangrove 

 Crab {Scylla serrata), (3) the Two-spotted Swimming 

 Crab {Ovalipes trimaculatus), (4) the Blood-spotted Swim- 

 ming Crab {Liipa sanguinolenta), and (5) the Cross-bearing 

 Swimming Crab {Charyhdis cntciahis). In addition to the 

 foregoing there are two other large crayfish-like crustaceans 

 of some slight edible importance — Scyllarits scidptiis and 

 Ibaciis peronii; but these do not at present appear in any 

 considerable numbers. 



As will be seen from the above. New South Wales is well 

 supplied with edible forms of Crustacea, and no doubt the 

 future will produce a number of others of economic import- 

 ance, even from the ranks of those which are at present of 

 no special value, while the possibilities of augmenting the 

 supplies of those species at present known and used are really 

 enormous. 



Quoting from my recently published " Edible Fishes of 

 New South Wales," we find that in the year 1907, in round 

 numbers, nearly 85,000 Crayfishes,* and 187,000 quarts of 



* In 1908 this number was greatly exceeded, reaching a total of 

 more than 133,000 crayfishes. 



