An overview of Freshwater Fish in Australia
The areas where freshwater fish are widely distributed in the world include the three major lakes in Africa, the Amazon River Basin in South America, and Southeast Asia, because these areas are rich in rainfall and have a warm and humid climate. Australia is a continent with the fewest freshwater fish species, especially in the ornamental fish world, Australia has the fewest ornamental fish species, what is the reason for this? This is because the Australian continent and the Antarctic continent have been drifting northward after separating, the climate is getting drier, and the Australian continent belongs to the driest continent in the world, with little rainfall and an underdeveloped natural river network. The only freshwater fish resources are distributed in eastern Australia, with drought and little rain in the central and western regions.
Because Australia is surrounded by the sea on all sides and isolated from other continents, fish are very primitive in the evolutionary process, such as Australian lungfish, Gongfish, Arowana and so on. Many of the freshwater fish in Australia are originally living in the sea and later migrating to the river. There are only 280 species of native fish in Australia, and Australia's freshwater fish are mainly distributed in the humid eastern coastal areas. The two most famous rivers in the east are the Murray River and the Darling River. It is home to Australia's main freshwater fish.
Australia
Freshwater fish in Australia are divided into two main groups: primary freshwater fish and secondary freshwater fish. Primary freshwater fish refer to species that live entirely in freshwater; secondary freshwater fish refers to species that have evolved from the ocean and can be adapted to brackish waters, such as entering estuarine semi-brackish waters and surviving in the ocean.
Second, the introduction of the four famous fish in Australia's freshwater
1. Australian cod (insect-striped cod)
Chinese name Murray River real perch, commonly known as Murray bass, river cod, Oriental cod, cod perch, Australian freshwater perch, etc., there are also some relatively tall names in China, such as Australian dragon stripes, insect striped cod or insect striped groupers. Murray cod and gem perch, gold perch, silver perch and other freshwater fish native to Australia are listed as the four most famous fish in Australia, and are known as "national treasure fish" in Australia.
Australian cod, also known as Australian freshwater perch, is australia's largest freshwater fish to date and the largest in the ranks of freshwater fish in the world.
Australian cod
2. Australian gem perch
The scientific name is high-body leather, also known as Australian gem spot, gem perch, gem fish, jade perch, emerald fish and so on. It belongs to the order Perciformes, Family Lycaenidae, genus Gnacyn. Jiadi is the transliteration of the fish after it was introduced to China. Two of Australia's largest rivers, the Murray River and the Darling River, are among Australia's most prestigious and valuable fish species.
The body of the gem perch is spindle-shaped, with a thick and flattened body, a small head, a mouth end, an arched back of the head, a large and rounded abdomen, a body covered with ctenophores, and a short and wide tail fin, slightly concave. On both sides or on one side of the fish body there are 1 to 2 or even more black crystal oval patches and scattered small patches, like inlaid black gemstones, hence the name "gem perch".
Australian gem perch
3. Golden perch
One of the famous warm and cold water recreational fishing species, it is widely distributed in the central and northern United States. The body is beautiful, and the flesh is tender and refreshing. The body is rounded and fusiform, with a strong physique; the back of the body is olive green, the sides of the body are green to golden yellow, and there are 6-7 dark stripes arranged perpendicular to the body length, and the pectoral, ventral and fins are orange-red, sometimes bright red, and the abdomen is milky white.
Golden perch
4. Australian silver perch
Chinese scientific name is silver saw, commonly known as the Australian silver perch. It is native to the Murray-Darling River basin in Australia. It is Australia's most prestigious freshwater fish and is considered the best fishing and food fish. Suitable for breeding. The silver perch has a long and slightly flattened body, with fine scales, silver-gray scales, and a silvery-white abdomen. The meat is delicious and delicate, rich in gum, and the taste is sweet and mellow and rich, which is widely favored by consumers. Among them, the EPA content of "DHA" and "preventing arteriosclerosis", which is called brain gold, greatly exceeds the valuable fish such as true seabream, black seabream, and yellow fish.
Australian silver perch
2. Australian freshwater ornamental fish
Queensland lungfish
Also known as Australian lungfish, Queensland lungfish is a very old fish species, is one of the oldest fish species in Australia, mostly seen in the domestic aquarium market, the structure of the Australian lungfish is very similar to the lungs, can be directly used to breathe air after leaving the water, so it is named lungfish. But drought tolerance is much worse than that of the American lungfish, which is currently banned from fishing in Australia.
Australian lungfish
Arapaima (Arowana)
These include Joe's Arapaima and Ritchell's Arapaima. Distributed in the tropical watersheds of northern Australia, it belongs to a species of aquarium Arowana, the trade name is pearl arowana and star pearl arowana. The number of these two kinds of arowana is huge, and the price of domestic aquariums is relatively low, selling for 100 to 500 yuan. At the same time, these two kinds of arowana are very popular sport fishing objects for local Lua enthusiasts.
Pearl Arowana
Star-dotted pearl arowana
Third, Australia's other primary freshwater fish
Small and medium-sized freshwater fish in Queensland's freshwater rivers can be raised as ornamental fish, mainly rainbow fish, soft spiny fish, flame pond fish, color pond fish, glass fish, swamp prawns, mullet and so on. Among them, the orange population is a large and lively small fish for the West's hindquarter salmon. Therefore, Australia's small fish are basically rainbow fish, glass fish, pond fish, and courgette fish.
West's posterior-fin salmon
It is a small fish that is more common in the freshwater basins of Australia and southern New Zealand, with 2 genera and 3 species in Australia, all endemic, with salmon in the name, but it has nothing to do with salmon.
Southern milk fish
It is a series of small and medium-sized fish widely distributed in temperate regions of the southern hemisphere, and its species are very rich, and it is a very successful freshwater fish population, with 31 species in 5 genera in Australia, all endemic, but due to invasive species and pollution, many species in this family are threatened
Spot the Southern Milkfish
Miniature small southern milkfish
Salad looking at scaly southern milkfish
True perch
For the largest species of medium and large fish distributed in the southern hemisphere, most of them are in Australia, and many of them are popular for swimming fishing.
Round-tailed Perch
Fork-tailed Perch
Pond fish
Widely distributed in seawater, soda and freshwater waters around the world, Australia is the region with the largest number of pond fish species in the world, with 18 genera and 43 species, and all of them are freshwater fish, and some species adapt to the estuarine environment. It is also a famous ornamental fish. It is popular in the aquarium community. The main varieties are:
Flat-headed yellowtail
Big-eyed pond fish
Australian giant pond fish
Eels
In Australia, the eel catfish return to live in freshwater, with the following species:
Australian eel
Grey-yellow new eel
herring
Widely distributed in the seas of the world's oceans, it is an important economic food fish worldwide, such as sardines are herring, and Australia has several kinds of freshwater herring.
North Australian seafood
Australian river herring
Silver Man Fish
Most species inhabit offshore and estuarine waters, but a few species inhabit rivers and lakes, and have a high diversity of freshwater silverfish species in Australia, including many well-known ornamental fish, such as the New South Wales spiny fish, the bright rainbow silver fish, the Washi Island silverfish and so on.
New South Wales spiny fish
Bright rainbow silver man fish
Silver Man fish on Wastanbul
4. Australian secondary freshwater fish
In addition to these pure freshwater fish, many seawater saline fish along the Australian coast will also enter the freshwater basin to live.
Barramundi
Commonly known as the blind trough, it often enters the freshwater barramundi, commonly known as the blind trough, and often enters the fresh water.
mullet
It is very fond of entering freshwater, and once became the target fishing target of local Chinese mullet very much likes to enter freshwater, and once became the target fish of local Chinese table fishing.
Sea catfish
Although it has a sea character, it is actually very fond of drilling sea catfish into fresh water, but it is actually very fond of drilling into fresh water.