Armaidan Pack Yabby

The Armaidan pack yabby (Cherax haliporphuros), sometimes referred to as the purple yabby, was a species of small freshwater crustacean that thrived in the waterways of the interior Sunscald, in what is now the Great Fissure. The species is perhaps best known for its role in the production of the substance purple, which was derived from pheromones secreted by the individual yabbies. With their destruction of their native habitat in the wake of the arcanist disaster that resulted in the Great Fissure, the species is presumed extinct.
An individual pack yabby was very small, even considering the relatively small size of other yabby species, tending to reach a maximum of 10cm in length. Contrary to their occasional name of 'purple yabby', it is likely that pack yabbies were typically black or dark blue; the name probably referred to their role in creating purple. Pack yabbies, as the name suggests, tended to hunt in packs, with the many small crustaceans overwhelming larger creatures with sheer numbers. However, it is believed that they would typically scavenge for food and only 'hunt' wounded creatures.
Though they were common in Armaidan waters and sometimes eaten by Armaidans, pack yabbies were mostly known for their occasional pheromone secretions, which were collected by Armaidans into the lucrative dye known as purple. Each yabby only secreted a minuscule amount of dye, and consequently thousands of pack yabbies were harvested for their purple. Luxurious and difficult to obtain even in Armaidan times, with the likely extinction of the pack yabby, purple has become one of the most valuable and prestigious substances in the known world. In the modern Sunscald, the yabby (as well as other crustaceans such as lobsters and crawfish, by assocation) has become a symbol of wealth and fortune.

EXTINCT

Scientific Name

Cherax haliporphuros

Average Length

<10cm