Griffith University

BAppSc (Hons), PhD
Adjunct Research Fellow, Environmental Futures Centre

Contact email: j.coughran@griffith.edu.au

Research Expertise

• Taxonomy, biology, ecology, conservation and management of aquatic fauna.

Current Projects

• Habitat preferences of the exotic Gambusia holbrooki with regard to water depth and riparian vegetation: Exploring the potential for an ecology-specific, physical control method.
• The distribution, biology, ecology and conservation status of Euastacus valentulus (Decapoda: Parastacidae) in northeastern New South Wales and southeast Queensland.
• The Bonang Spiny Crayfish Euastacus sp. nov. a new species of freshwater crayfish from the Upper Reaches of The Snowy River, East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia.
• The Orbost Spiny Crayfish Euastacus diversus rediscovered and redescribed.
• Field Guide to the Freshwater Crayfishes of the Central Eastern New South Wales (Grafton to Sydney).
• The distribution, biology, ecology and conservation status of Euastacus sulcatus (Decapoda: Parastacidae) in southeast Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.
• Biology, ecology and distribution of the Newcastle Yabby, Cherax setosus.
• Conservation of Imperilled Crayfish – Gramastacus sp. nov. (Decapoda: Parastacidae), a lowland, coastal crayfish from central eastern New South Wales, Australia.
• Conservation of Imperiled Crayfish — Cherax sp nov. (Decapoda: Parastacidae), a lowland flood plain crayfish of the Murray River.

Selected Publications

Peer-reviewed Scientific Journal Articles

• Coughran, J. & McCormack, R. B. (2011). Euastacus morgani sp. n., a new spiny crayfish (Crustacea, Decapoda, Parastacidae) from the highland rainforests of eastern New South Wales, Australia. ZooKeys 85:17-26.
  
• Leland, J., Coughran, J. & Bucher, D. (2011). A preliminary investigation into the potential value of gastric mills for ageing crustaceans. Crustacea Monographs: New Frontiers in Crustacean Research. 57-68.
  
• Furse, J.M. & Coughran, J. (2011). An assessment of the distribution, biology, threatening processes and conservation status of the freshwater crayfish, genus Euastacus (Decapoda: Parastacidae) in continental Australia. I. Biological background and current status. Crustacea Monographs: New Frontiers in Crustacean Research. 241-252.
  
• Furse, J.M. & Coughran, J. (2011). An assessment of the distribution, biology, threatening processes and conservation status of the freshwater crayfish, genus Euastacus (Decapoda: Parastacidae) in continental Australia. II. Threats, conservation assessments and key findings. Crustacea Monographs: New Frontiers in Crustacean Research. 253-263.
  
• Furse, J.M. & Coughran, J. (2011). An assessment of the distribution, biology, threatening processes andconservation status of the freshwater crayfish, genus Euastacus (Decapoda: Parastacidae) in continental Australia. III. Case studies and recommendations. Crustacea Monographs: New Frontiers in Crustacean Research. 265-274.
• Brookhouse, N. & Coughran, J. (2010). Exploring the potential for an ecology-specific, physical control method of the exotic pest Mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki. Ecological Management & Restoration. 11 (3): 226-228.
• McCormack, R.B., Coughran, J., Furse, J.M. & Van der Werf, P. (2010). Conservation of imperilled crayfish: Euastacus jagara (Decapoda: Parastacidae), a highland crayfish from the Main Range, south-eastern Queensland, Australia. Journal of Crustacean Biology 30(3): 531-535.
• Coughran, J., McCormack, R.B. & Daly G. (2009). Translocation of the Yabby Cherax destructor into eastern drainages of New South Wales, Australia. Australian Zoologist 35(1): 100-103.
• O’Brien, A., Coughran, J. & McCormack, R. (2009). On the existence of Cherax rotundus (Clark 1941) in the Severn region of southeastern Queensland. Queensland Naturalist 47(4-6):41-52.
• Coughran, J., Leckie, S.R., & Gartside, D.F. 2008. Distribution, habitat and conservation status of the freshwater crayfishes, Cherax cuspidatus (Riek) and C. leckii (Coughran). Freshwater Crayfish 16:19-26. (1MB PDF)
• Coughran, J. 2008. Distinct Groups in the genus Euastacus? Freshwater Crayfish 16:123-130. (1.3MB PDF)
• McCormack, R.B. & Coughran, J. 2008. Euastacus maccai, a new freshwater crayfish from New South Wales. Fishes of Sahul 22(4): 471-476. (607KB PDF)
• Coughran, J. & Leckie, S. 2007. Euastacus pilosus n. sp., a new crayfish from the highland forests of northern New South Wales, Australia. Fishes of Sahul 21(1):309-316. (520KB PDF)
• Coughran, J. 2007. Distribution, habitat and conservation status of the freshwater crayfishes, Euastacus dalagarbe, E. girurmulayn, E. guruhgi, E. jagabar and E. mirangudjin. Australian Zoologist 34(2): 222-227.
• Coughran, J. 2005. New crayfishes (Decapoda: Parastacidae: Euastacus) from northeastern New South Wales, Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 57(3): 361-374. (1.3MB PDF)
• Coughran, J. 2005. Cherax leckii n. sp. (Decapoda: Parastacidae): a new crayfish from coastal, northeastern New South Wales. Fishes of Sahul 19(4):191-196. (214KB PDF)
• Coughran, J. 2002. A new species of the freshwater crayfish genus Euastacus (Decapoda: Parastacidae) from northeastern New South Wales, Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 54 (1): 25-30. (761KB PDF)
• Coughran, J. (in press). Biology of the Blood Crayfish, Euastacus gumar Morgan 1997, a small freshwater crayfish from the Richmond Range, northeastern New South Wales. Australian Zoologist.
• Coughran, J. (in press). Biology of the Orange-bellied Crayfish, Euastacus mirangudjin Coughran 2002. Australian Zoologist.

Other Published Works

• Coughran, J. 2004. The crayfishes of northeastern NSW, Australia. Crayfish News 26(4): 9-13.
• Coughran, J. 2005. Field Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of the Clarence, Richmond and Tweed Catchments. Natureview Publishing, Bangalow, NSW.
• Coughran, J. & Leckie, S. 2005. News from the wilderness of crayfish research. Fishes of Sahul 19(2): 143-148. (646KB PDF)
• Leckie, S. & Coughran, J. 2005. Euastacus suttoni (Clark 1941): the New England Crayfish. Fishes of Sahul 19(3): 167-172. (879KB PDF)
• Coughran, J. 2006. Field Guide to the Freshwater Crayfishes of Northeastern New South Wales. Natureview Publishing, Bangalow, NSW.
• Coughran, J. & Leckie, S.R. 2007. “Invasion of a New South Wales stream by the Tropical Crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens)”, in Lunney, D., Ebs, P., Hutchings, P. and Burgin, S. (Eds.). Pest or Guest: the Ecology of Overabundance. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. (2MB PDF)
• Coughran, J. 2008. Snip, snip... (Snip)? An unusual pseudo-claw in the Simple Crayfish, Euastacus simplex. Crayfish News 30(4): 4.
• Oliver, N. & Coughran, J. 2009. What lurks within the depths of Washpool’s rainforests? Crayfish News 31(2):1,13.
• Coughran, J. & Furse, J.M. 2010. An assessment of genus Euastacus (49 species) versus IUCN Red List criteria. Report prepared for the global species conservation assessment of crayfishes for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Environmental Futures Centre, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Queensland, Australia, 115 Pages. ISBN: 978-0-9805452-1-0.
• Moore, A., Ingram, B.A., Friend, S., King Ho, H., Robinson, N., McCormack, R., Coughran, J. and B. Hayes. 2010. Management of genetic resources for fish and crustaceans in the Murray-Darling Basin. Bureau of Rural Sciences,Canberra. ISBN: 9781921192364. http://www.daff.gov.au/brs/publications/all_brs_publications/ management_of_genetic_resources_for_fish_and_crustaceans_in_the_murray-darling_basin