yabby pump

noun

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.

Meanings

nounyabby pump (plural yabby pumps)

plural yabby pumps

  1. AustraliabiologyA 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.

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

    2007, J. Woodford, chapter 12, in Whitecap, page 132
    3 more examples

    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.

    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

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

    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 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.

    Japanese Journal of Benthology

    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
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APA

yabby pump. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yabby%20pump

MLA

“yabby pump.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yabby%20pump. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yabby pump,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yabby%20pump.

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