yabby pump

yabby pump (plural yabby pumps)

1. (Australia, biology) A large hand-operated syringe-like suction pump, made of metal tubing with a rubber plunger, used to harvest ghost shrimp (prototypically the marine yabby) and other burrowing crustaceans from intertidal environments.
   • 1961, T. S. Hailstone, W. Stephenson, “The Biology of Callianassa (Trypaea) australiensis Dana 1852 (Crustacea, Thalassinidea)”, in University of Queensland Papers: Department of Zoology‎, volume I, number 12, pages 260–261:

     In eastern Australia, Callianassa can be obtained in quantities with relative ease by using a local invention (the "yabby pump") which will be described. [...] The sale of yabby pumps and live yabbies for bait is an important aspect of amateur angling in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales.

   • 2005, I. Hernández-Ávila, C. Lira, G. Hernández, J. Bolaños, “Upogebia vasquezi Ngoc-Ho, 1989 (Decapoda: Thalassinidea: Upogebiidae): First Record for Venezuela”, in Boletín del Instituto Oceanográfico de Venezuela, Universidad de Oriente, volume 44, number 2, page 119:

     The specimens were collected with a yabby pump in Carenero lagoon, South coast of La Tortuga Island (10º53’N 65º14’W), Venezuela.

   • 2007, J. Woodford, chapter 12, in Whitecap‎, page 132:

     Penny placed the yabby pump on top of a hole in the sandflat and pulled back on the handle, sucking up mud and life.

   • 2014, Henmi Y., Iwata Y., Itani G., “ヒモハゼとクボハゼによる干潮時のヨコヤアナジャコの巣穴利用 [Associations of the gobies Eutaeniichthys gilli and Gymnogobius scrobiculatus with burrows of the mud shrimp Upogebia yokoyai at low tide]”, in 日本ベントス学会誌 [Japanese Journal of Benthology]‎, volume 69, page 69:

     The gobies Eutaeniichthys gilli and Gymnogobius scrobiculatus were collected from burrows of the mud shrimp Upogebia yokoyai at low tide by digging and using a yabby pump from April 2007 to September 2008 at Susaki Bay, Kochi Prefecture, Japan.

• As a common name for ghost shrimp, the basic term yabby remains restricted to eastern Australia. However, the compound yabby pump has become widespread among carcinologists who have adopted the device in many areas of the world as a means of capturing littoral burrowing crustaceans for study.

• → Japanese: ヤビーポンプ