Giant Spiny Crayfish can reach over 1kg and 11.7cm. Females produce up to 1500 eggs! They live in Our fantastic permanent streams and flooded burrows, crayfish so are vulnerable to water pollution. Did you know our city is home to health one of the world’s largest freshwater snapshot crayfish—the Giant Spiny Crayfish? These smart, elusive creatures can be seen in the 2O21 warmer months glowing bright orange or bluish- green in creek beds. What’s in a name? Crayfish fuel abundant wildlife. For every 1000 baby crayfish born, only one will survive to old age. People often confuse The rest become a vital food crayfish with yabbies— source for many other which grow quickly, creatures, like turtles, No-one knows breed early, and are platypus, native water exactly how long introduced pests in the mountains. You can tell rats and aquatic birds. these crayfish live, but them apart by their claws. Crayfish also play a vital it’s at least 30-50 If the bottom edge is role as scavengers— years (possibly smooth, it’s a yabby, if hoovering up waste and up to 100)! jagged, it’s likely one of helping keep our creeks two local Spiny Crayfish. healthy and clean.

Sydney Crayfish grow to 215g and 7.5cm, producing 100–150 eggs. They live in smaller streams and swamps, with a mostly unflooded The burrow system. the citycray within fish a World Heritage Female crayfish carry eggs (berries) tucked beneath A large Crayfish Nationalissue! Park their tails. When the eggs hatch, the babies stay at Leura Falls Creek under mum’s tail for around 6 months. IMAGE: R McCormack How healthy are our waterways?

Council regularly monitors local waterways for ecological health and recreational water quality. This is a snapshot of our results. For more details visit: www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/waterquality

Ecological health

% Waterways If I get stuck Crayfish traps are illegal in 57 in good to in a crayfish trap, Blue Mountains swamps excellent I can drown in just and waterways. health three minutes. 43% Waterways in poor to fair health How you can help More ways to help These results are based on testing that Leave crayfish in their creeks! Report pollution uses macroinvertebrates (water bugs) as indicators of waterway health. Spiny Crayfish face many dangers from runoff, NSW Environment Line 131 555 pesticides and habitat destruction. They are slow to Dispose of chemicals safely mature and only start breeding from around nine years. Recreational water quality Give crayfish a future by leaving them in their creeks. Household Chemical Cleanout: www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/cleanout Crayfish traps are illegal in Blue Mountains swamps Wentworth Falls Lake and waterways. They catch and drown other wildlife Become a volunteer Suitable for swimming most of the time. like platypus, waterbirds and turtles. Generally good microbial water quality. www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/envirovolunteers Jellybean Pool, Megalong Creek, Only rain down the drain! Got a suggestion for our next Snapshot? Minnehaha Falls When fertilisers, pesticides and detergents enter street Email Council’s Healthy Waterways Team: Not always suitable for swimming. drains, they usually end up in our creeks. Unlike sewage, [email protected] Susceptible to faecal pollution. stormwater is generally not treated. At all sites, avoid swimming during and Our research shows that pesticides are common in up to three days after rain, or if there are many local waterways. In 2012, over 1000 crayfish died signs of pollution in the water. Also from a pesticide spill at Wentworth Falls. consider other risks such as water depth, temperature and submerged hazards. So, consider alternative pest control methods and keep pesticides out of drains. T 02 4780 5000 Locked Bag 1005 These results are based on weekly testing E [email protected] 2 Civic Place for bacterial contamination over summer. www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au Katoomba NSW 2780 ● Excellent health These ratings are based on the types of waterbugs (like crayfish, dragonfly nymphs and mayflies) found at each site. Waterbugs l Good health are widely accepted indicators of ecological creek health. A rich Ecological waterway health l Fair health variety of sensitive waterbugs indicates a healthy waterway. in the l Poor health l Very poor health Glenbrook Catchment Kedumba Catchment ●17 Magdala Creek ●39 Kedumba Creek ●18 ●40 Leura Falls Creek Colo Catchment ●19 Glenbrook Creek ●41 Gordon Creek ●1 Waterfall Creek ●20 Glenbrook Creek tributary ●42 Lillians Glen ●21 Florabella Pass Creek ●43 Jamison Creek Coxs Catchment ●22 Sassafrass Creek ●44 Wentworth Falls Lake

●2 Fairy Dell Creek Grose Catchment Nepean Catchment ●3 Centennial Glen Creek ●4 Megalong Creek ●23 tributary ●45 Fitzgerald Creek ●5 Megalong Creek tributary ●24 Hat Hill Creek ●46 Long Angle Creek ●6 Pulpit Hill Creek ●25 Popes Glen Creek ●47 Creek ●7 Pulpit Hill Creek tributary ●26 Bridal Veil Creek/ ●48 Frasers Creek Govetts Leap Brook ●8 Back Creek ●49 Frasers Creek tributary 27 ● Yosemite Creek ●50 Cripple Creek ●28 Katoomba Creek Erskine Catchment ●51 Strathdon Creek 29 ● Govetts Creek ●52 Lapstone Creek ●9 30 ● Wentworth Creek ●53 Knapsack Creek ●10 Terrace Falls Creek 31 ● Water Nymphs Dell ●54 Glenbrook Lagoon ●11 Lawson Creek ●32 Dantes Glen ●12 Cataract Creek 33 ● Hazelbrook Creek ●13 Red Gum Park 34 ● Woodford Creek 14 ● Bedford Creek tributary ●35 Linden Creek tributary 15 ● Wilsons Glen Creek ●36 Springwood Creek 16 ● ●37 Bulls Creek ●38 Adams Creek

Join the Blue Mountains Crayfish Count

Crayfish tell us a lot about creek health. Like the canary in the coalmine, their presence or absence shows if something is wrong in a waterway.

We run annual crayfish surveys to healthy population at Springwood get a better picture of the health Creek, but a concerning decline in of our crayfish populations, and in numbers at Leura Falls Creek. turn, the health of our waterways. Of course, it’s impossible to survey Surveys also allow us to detect every stream—that’s where you pollution incidents earlier. Recent come in! Find out more about how surveys show a remarkable to identify local crayfish and get recovery from pesticide involved in the Blue Mountains contamination at Jamison Creek Crayfish Count at (Wentworth Falls), and a relatively bmcc.nsw.gov.au/crayfish-count. Crayfish survey, 2020.