Macquarie Perch (Macquaria australasica)
Description
- The Macquarie Perch is related to freshwater bass and cod.
- It has a distinct humped back, large white eyes and a rounded tail.
- They grow up to 40 cm in length and weigh up to 1 kg.
- The fish can live between 15-20 years.
- They’re mostly active between dusk and dawn.
- They'll travel up to 1km each day to feed on shrimp, insect larvae, yabbies, zooplankton and molluscs.
- During spring and early summer, the fish migrate to spawning spots.
- The females leave their eggs at the foot of pools, head of riffles or fast-flowing sections of river.
- Once males fertilise the eggs, they wash downstream and lodge in rocky areas until they hatch.
Find out more about the Macquarie Perch on Canberra NatureMapr.
Where to find them
Macquarie Perch live in cold, shaded and pristine streams and rivers. These fish can only be found in the cooler, upper areas of the Murray–Darling River system.
In the ACT they’re found:
- in the lower Paddys and Cotter rivers
- in populations moved to parts of the Upper Cotter, Molonglo and Paddys rivers
- rarely in the Murrumbidgee River.
Conservation threats
The major threats to Macquarie Perch include:
- habitat changes or destruction
- changes to rivers
- barriers to fish passages
- introduced fish species
- effects of wildfires
- reduced genetic diversity
- predators sharing the same habitat
- less places to spawn their eggs
- climate change.
Conservation status
- National – Endangered (Nature Conservation Act 2014).
- Australian Capital Territory – Endangered (Nature Conservation Act 2014), Special Protection Status native species (Nature Conservation Act 2014).
Conservation actions
Conservation actions aim to:
- introduce more water flow to the Cotter River to keep fish numbers up and help them breed successfully
- Introduce bans on fishing for the species
- monitoring the species yearly to understand how to look after them
- repair the Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach to improve their habitat and connect populations
- research on how to build and manage an enlarged Cotter Dam
- move some populations between sites to help them adapt to other areas.