Lobster vs Crayfish vs Moreton Bay Bug: What Is the Difference

TL;DR: Australian "crayfish" in a fish shop is usually rock lobster. Moreton Bay bugs are slipper lobsters, flatter and cheaper, all tail meat. Yabbies are freshwater crayfish and a different animal.

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The names are a mess. Walk into a Gold Coast shop and you will hear lobster, cray, bug and yabby used as if they were interchangeable. They are not. Three of them sit in our cabinets. One of them lives in a dam.

Four animals, one table

Name you hear	What it is	Meat	Flavour	Cook time	Relative price
Moreton Bay bug	Slipper lobster (Thenus spp.), Queensland	Tail only	Sweet, mild, lobster-like	3 to 4 minutes split	$
Balmain bug	Related slipper lobster, smaller	Tail only	Similar, a bit sweeter	2 to 3 minutes	$
Eastern rock lobster / local lobster	Marine rock lobster, east coast	Tail, some body	Rich, sweet	8 to 12 minutes tail	$$$
WA crayfish	Western rock lobster (Panulirus cygnus)	Tail	Rich, firm, classic "lobster"	8 to 12 minutes	$$$
Lobster tail (imported)	Usually rock lobster, frozen	Tail	Clean, slightly milder once frozen	8 to 10 minutes per 200 g	$$
Yabby / redclaw / marron	Freshwater crayfish	Tail, small claws	Sweet, delicate	3 to 5 minutes	$$

Rock lobster has no big claws. That is the Australian animal. The clawed lobster on American menus is Homarus, a North Atlantic species we rarely sell here.

Bugs: the local one

Moreton Bay bugs are caught off Queensland, including the waters north of us. Flat, armoured, a bit prehistoric. All the meat is in the tail. Split them, cook shell side down in garlic butter for 3 to 4 minutes, stop when the meat turns white.

Raw bugs if you want to grill. Cooked bugs if they are going on a cold platter. Full method: Moreton Bay bugs buying and cooking guide.

Crayfish: the Australian word for rock lobster

When a Queensland or WA shop says crayfish, it means rock lobster. WA crayfish cooked is western rock lobster, the most famous Australian lobster fishery. Local lobster is the east coast animal.

Same cooking idea as a bug, scaled up. Split, grill or bake, do not boil them into rubber. Tails: see how to cook lobster tails.

Lobster tails: the freezer door version

Frozen lobster tails are the portion that travels. Most are pre-cut rock lobster tails, raw, frozen at sea or on shore. Thaw in the fridge overnight, butterfly, cook meat side up. A 200 g tail needs about 8 to 10 minutes.

They are not worse. They are a different job: predictable size, no live tank, easy to portion for a dinner.

Which one for Father's Day

Bugs for a barbecue with prawns. Lobster or WA cray if Dad is the person you spend up for. A mixed grill of jumbo tigers, split bugs and one lobster tail is the spread people remember.

Spend $200 or more this Father's Day, Sunday 6 September, online or in store, and you get a free Tasman Star cap or singlet while stocks last. Bugs are in the BBQ packs. Lobster tails sit beside them on the shop.