C. quadricarinatus is native to permanent freshwater streams, billabongs and lakes on the north coast of the Northern Territory, northeastern Queensland, and Papua New Guinea.

C. quadricarinatus is considered an invasive species, and has established feral populations in South Africa, Mexico, Jamaica, Puerto Rico,[1] Indonesia,[2] Zambia,[3] Malaysia and Singapore.

Their heads have four keels (as inferred by the epithet), and adult males have a distinct red patch on the outer margin of the claws.

[6] C. quadricarinatus is often kept in aquariums worldwide, and is the only species of crayfish that can be kept in indoor aquaria for ornamental use in the UK (except Scotland) without a licence.

Time to sexual maturity, and therefore harvest size, is somewhere between six and twelve months in optimally farmed conditions.