curtur Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Is there an easy way to tell whether a koura is a male or female? I have just got one from my lfs, he/she is approx 13cm long (not including pincers). I have not been able to find anything about how to tell the difference. Picture is not the best as had to use cell phone camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjafroglet Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 You can pretty much assume it's a male, I'm not sure how to tell the difference but they pretty much all are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 I'm happy to be corrected here, but I think the females have three pairs of legs with pincers and the males have two pairs. The extra set of nippers is to manipulate the eggs held under the tail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 males have testes at the base of their hind legs females don't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 Oooh-Ah, they'll be glad they don't play soccer then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 weird.... I thought I replied to this.... in detail......can't be bothered re-typing. males have backwards-pointing protrusions off the bit of leg that joins the body on the last legs, when you look at them from underneath. That is about as much sense as you are going to get out of me right now, sorry. Pick up a lot of crays and you get the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 I think we are going to have to get some pics of the underside of these beasties for the Native fish database... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtur Posted December 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 cool, thanks guys. All I need to do is to train the little fella to roll over for me so I have a look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 To illustrate Stella's description. Look in the middle of the last set of legs and you will be the "boy bits" And yes, thats Stella's fingers Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 now that is a good photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 and please note in the photo the general lack of squealing like a girl and dropping the cray Twas possibly the biggest cray I have ever seen (for reference, the ring I am wearing there is 2cm across). Very awkward photo to take, trying to hold the cray in one hand, the camera in the other, and desperately needing a third hand to swat away the BILLIONS of gnats and moths that were getting in the way and between my eyes and my glasses (shudder). Ianab kindly lured them away by proffering his ankles... So back to his glorious boy-bits... (the cray's, that is). Between those two back legs, right in the centre, are two white lumpy things. They are kinda pointed up in the photo so you don't get much of a 3D idea, but as they waggle their legs around you will see the protrusions waggle also.... The girl-bits are ill-defined holes on the second pair of legs. Curtur, wait till your cray is sitting still, quickly put finger and thumb either side of the body, but mostly gently pressing down at this point to hold it still. While it is still you can get a good grasp of it and lift it up. It will flick the tail quite sharply causing you to drop it and need to repeat the exercise. Once you have hold of it it will not be able to nip you. The one in the photo just played dead, some waved their legs about looking rather impotent, while others continue to flick and make life difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 and please note in the photo the general lack of squealing like a girl and dropping the cray good description to go with thre photo is this in the native invert section? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtur Posted December 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 Thanks for the tips Stella, not sure if I'm going to be confident catching it yet, it can move rather fast when startled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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