Free Republic

The Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Crayfish, Astacopsis gouldi, is the largest freshwater invertebrate in the world.(Supplied: Dan Broun) =========================================================================== Fiona Marshall says she's rarely out of her gumboots or waders these days. "I love working in rivers, they're really fascinating environments, they're really dynamic," the agricultural project coordinator said. Ms Marshall said she was always scouring around in waterways across Tasmania's green, lush north-west as part of her latest project. She has been working with landowners in the region to improve the habitat for giant freshwater crayfish — a threatened species that only lives in Tasmania's north. Ms Marshall said...

When researchers discover fossils of species that are new to science it’s only natural that they attempt to find a place for them in the colossal tree of life, matching them up with related species that may even exist today. A newly-discovered species of ancient creature is pushing that practice to its absolute limit. Tiny fossils discovered in both Colombia and the United States reveal the existence of a pint-sized marine animal that lived some 90 million years ago. It’s being called a crab, but the researchers who discovered it are quick to point out how dramatically different it is...

The crayfish cut its own claw of to survive being boiled alive (Picture: Jiuke) _______________________________________________________________________ A crayfish made a remarkable bid for freedom after cutting off its own claw to escape a boiling pot of soup. The desperate animal was filmed sacrificing its own limb to survive being boiled alive at a restaurant in China. Posted on Chinese social media site Weibo by a user called Jiuke, the crayfish is seen struggling to escape the spicy soup. The heroic crayfish then slices off its own claw before wriggling away to freedom. The clip has racked up more than a million...