ornates seem to get much bigger

ornates taste like old boots

painteds taste like old sneakers

http://fishwrecked-reeltime.com/

huh? they are the same thing right?

I agree painted crays are not that great on the tooth, a little tough !  We found that getting the meat out and cutting it into small pieces and coating with egg and lemon pepper breadcrumbs and lightly frying turned them into a most acceptable meal - they go pretty good in a mongolian bbq as well.

I have always preferred troppies which, whilst much much larger always seem to have tender sweet flesh 

You're right Jay, Painteds and Ornates are the same animal, others we get here are the most common Greens, Coral Crays (mottly red jobs) and Packhorse Crays (which are usually found South of us around Onslow to Carnarvon, it's also mottly red but with a larger head to the tail). These are collectively known as Tropical Crayfish and IMO are good to eat (esp the Ornate which I believe Sunshine is talking about) when flavoured up and done on the BBQ. There are others but are usualy only trawled up from the depths
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Daisy, thanks, now that explains why I have caught painted's (greens),  tropicals which are much much larger and almost invariably found in pairs. Have occasionally caught around the islands off Dampier what I would call non-descript crays often deep red to almost burgundy in colour with bright flashes of purple on legs and antenna which I couldn't find in any of my books - infrequent catches but not one off's yet I have never tried to get a good photo of one.  Put money I will never see one again now that I have made mention of it 

  t  mli