La Cucaracha ~ aka ~ The Cacka
In Spanish, "la cucaracha" means "cockroach".
Crayfish/lobster have been described as the cockroaches of the sea, because they are known to scavenge for scraps and waste other creatures in their environment may leave behind.
Both cockroaches and crayfish are Arthropods (animals which have segmented bodies, paired and jointed legs, and an exo-skeleton). Arthropods include insects, centipedes, millipedes, arachnids and crustaceans (shrimps, prawns, crabs and of course, crayfish and lobsters).
Western Rock Lobster
Panulirus Cygnus
Information from: http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Species/Rock-Lobster/Pages/default.aspx
The western rock lobster is one of the family of ‘spiny’ lobsters, colourful and protected by a strong carapace. They are sometimes called ‘crayfish’ or ‘crays’. The species is the target of WA’s largest and most valuable fishery.
The spiny lobster family gets its name from two big rostral spines and hundreds of tiny forward-pointing spines covering the carapace. Their long antennae are used for navigation, self-defence and communicating.
They can live for more than 20 years and grow to weigh 5 kg. But due to fishing rules, fishers rarely catch animals heavier than 3 kg. When temperatures are cooler they mature at six to seven years old, when their carapace reaches a length of about 90 mm. In warmer water they mature at smaller sizes, usually at about 70 mm.
Distribution and Habitat
About eight species of rock lobster live in WA waters but the most abundant by far is the western rock lobster. They are a temperate species, only found on the continental shelf off the coast, with most living between Perth and Geraldton.
Life Cycle
1.Mating:
When rock lobsters mate, in late winter and spring, the male attaches a packet of sperm, which resembles a blob of tar, to the underside of the female. The scientific name for this sperm packet is a ‘spermatophoric mass’ but, owing to its appearance, it is generally called a ‘tarspot’. It remains underneath the female between the hind-most pair of legs until she is ready to spawn her eggs.
2. Spawning:
When female lobsters release their eggs, they also release sperm from the tarspot by scratching it. The eggs are thus fertilised as they are swept backwards from the female and become attached to the sticky‘setae’ (fine hairs) on the ‘swimmerettes’ beneath the tail of the female lobster. Females carrying eggs are known as ‘berried’. The eggs hatch in about four to eight weeks, depending on water temperature, and release tiny larvae into the water currents.
3. Larvae:
Called phyllosoma because of their leaf-like shape, the larvae drift offshore and spend nine to 11 months in a planktonic state, growing in a series of moults from 2 mm long at hatching to approximately 35 mm long in thefinal larval stage. During this time, most of the larvae remain 400 to 1,000 km offshore, but some have been found as far out as 1,500 km. Most larvae die on their ocean journey, but the survivors are eventually carried by winds and currents back towards the continental shelf.
4. Pueruli:
The late-stage larvae undergo a moult that totally changes their appearance. They become fully-fledged but miniature (about 25 mm long), transparent rock lobsters known as pueruli. It is at this time that they swim across the continental shelf, with assistance from prevailing currents, from deep waters onto onshore reefs – a distance in some parts of 60km. What makes this long journey extraordinary is that the tiny pueruli do it without eating at all on the way, powered entirely from energy preserved from their larval phase. Many are eaten by predators or are not carried close enough to the onshore reefs by the ocean currents to allow them to ‘settle’ into their new lives as lobsters. Within days of making themselves at home on the onshore reefs, the pueruli develop the red colouration that is associated with western rock lobsters.
5. Juveniles:
The pueruli that successfully return to the coast will, through a series of moults, grow to become juvenile rock lobsters. These juveniles feed and grow on the shallow onshore reefs for the next three or four years.
6. Whites’ migration:
At this point, the lobsters undergo a synchronised moult in late spring, when they change their normal red shell colour to a creamy-white/pale pink. The lobsters are then known as‘whites’, until they return to their normal red colour at the next moult a few months later. The whites phase of the western rock lobster’s life cycle is a migratory phase. Once their new lighter-coloured shell has hardened, they set out on a two-pronged migration. The vast majority head west and undergo a mass migration into deeper water, where they re-settle on deeper reefs. A small percentage makes a longer migration to the north, usually following the continental shelf. In large groups, the lobsters set out on their march, trekking at night, until they reach the spawning grounds, occasionally a hundred or more kilometres away from where they started and in water up to 100 m deep.
The juvenile crayfish that have returned to the coast, will then grow through successively moults until they reach sexual maturity. These undersize juveniles (those with a carapace length of less than 76 or 77mm), are commonly referred to as “Cackas” by the crayfishing fraternity. At certain times, and in certain places, these undersize crayfish (also known as “beetles”) far outnumber the legal sized crayfish. The CO of this cache has been told that the adult crayfish will allow the beetles/cackas to enter the craypots and feast on the available bait before they will eat anything themselves.
Hefty fines apply to anyone who is found in possession of undersize crayfish, but for the professional crayfisherman, it could mean losing his fishing licence altogether.
As to whether cackas are sweeter to eat than legal crayfish, I guess you will have to ask somebody else that question…
Good luck everyone!
FTF Congratulations Pink Bling
Click on this link for a youtube clip you might enjoy, with great scenery too.
La Cucaracha