User:Mmccutcheon1010/Cherax tenuimanus

Habitat
The hairy marron exclusively lives in the Margaret River in southwestern Australia. Its range has also become limited to 3 major pools in the upper portion of the river due to competition with the smooth marron. Exact environmental parameters needed for the survival of the hairy marron are unknown due to the low number of individuals in natural settings (Rouse and Kartamulia, 1992). However, studies performed in aquaculture settings have shown that hairy marron survive best in water that is about 25 degrees Celsius and that with a salinity of at least 100 mg/L (Rouse and Kartamulia, 1992).

Reproduction
Mating takes place in the hairy marron's second year of life in the late winter through the spring ( https://rivers.dwer.wa.gov.au/species/cherax-tenuimanus/ ). Reproduction takes place when a male passes a sperm packet to the female, which the female then uses to fertilize the eggs in a process nearly identical to that used by the smooth marron. The female hairy marron is able to fertilise and incubate up to 200-400 eggs at once and occasionally up to 800 for the much larger females( http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/species/marron/pages/default.aspx ). The eggs are held under the female's tail for many weeks and then hatch in late spring ( http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/species/marron/pages/default.aspx ). Comparatively, the smooth marron follows a similar reproduction pattern although they are reported to release its juveniles before the hairy marron which is why the smooth marron frequently outcompetes the hairy marron ( https://rivers.dwer.wa.gov.au/species/cherax-tenuimanus/ ).

Invasion by Smooth Marron
One of the greatest threats to wild populations of hairy marron is invasion by the closely related smooth marron, which was introduced into the Margaret River in the 1980s, and which progressively replaced the hairy marron in the lower regions of the Margaret River from 1980 to 1992 (de Graff et al.,2009). Although the replacement of the hairy marron by the smooth marron in the middle portion of the river is not very well documented, the hairy marron was observed to be completely gone from the middle of the river in 2000 (de Graff et al., 2009). Beginning in the same year, smooth marron have always been observed living alongside all hairy marron populations in the upper portion of the Margaret River (de Graff et al., 2009). Marron populations in the Margaret River follow the general trend of increasing in hairy marron and decreasing in smooth marron for regions further up the river (de Graff et al., 2009). This trend has led scientists to conclude that smooth marron were most likely introduced in the lower portions of the river and spread to the middle and upper regions over time, replacing hairy marron through several processes including competition and hybridization (de Graff et al., 2009).

Hybridization
The hairy marron and the smooth marron have been classified as two separate species in past studies based on their morphology and genetics (Austin and Knott, 2002). However, further research has found that smooth marron and hairy marron are able to interbreed and that interbreeding can produce reproductively viable hybrids (de Graff et al., 2009). While interbreeding has been observed, some research suggests that interbreeding is less frequent than it would be if the smooth marron and the hairy marron belong to the same species, and this reduced frequency is hypothesized to be the result of a currently unknown factor or factors that prevent them from interbreeding easily. Debate as to whether the hairy marron and the smooth marron are the same or different species is currently ongoing within the scientific community.