My yabbies have tiny crawling, leech-like animals and pinhead-size eggs under their tails?
These are called “temnos” (temnocephalids) by farmers and occur naturally on all crayfish. They are not a disease organism, but what is called an “ectocommensal”. They feed on the scunge (epiphytes) growing on the crayfish shell, so they tend to be a symptom of a slow growing stock and larger crayfish (which don’t cast of their shells frequently) and rich, clearer water conditions. We need to do more research on these, and other, so-called, “epibionts” on crayfish. The adult crawling stage of the temno can be removed by immersing the Yabby in salty water, briefly; however, we don’t know how to remove the temno eggs (glued onto the pleopods or swimmerets under the tail). These eggs appear as black spots on a cooked Yabby and detract from marketing appearance.
