Brackish Water Archives

Bullrout

Interesting Info The Bullrout is a tough-looking little fish found only in eastern Australia, from southern New South Wales up into southern Queensland. It lives in estuaries, tidal rivers, and brackish creeks, often resting half-buried in sand or mud where…

Bellybar Pipefish

Interesting Info The Bellybar Pipefish are found across northern and eastern coasts, from Western Australia’s Kimberley region across the Top End, down the Queensland coast, and into New South Wales estuaries. It is a slender, snake-like fish that belongs to…

Belut

Interesting Info Belut are native to Asia, but in Australia they are considered non-native introductions, sometimes appearing in northern Queensland wetlands. The Belut is not a “true eel” but a type of swamp eel. Unlike moray eels or freshwater eels,…

Atlantic Salmon

Interesting Info Atlantic Salmon come from the North Atlantic Ocean, but they were brought to Australia in the 1800s. Today, they are farmed almost entirely in Tasmania’s cool, clean coastal waters, where conditions mimic their natural environment. They are farmed…

Tasmanian Smelt

Interesting Info The Tasmanian Smelt is a small, silvery fish that’s found only in Tasmania, making it an endemic species — it lives nowhere else in the world. They have a slender, almost see-through body with a faint silver stripe…

Congolli

Interesting Info The Congolli is a small to medium-sized native fish found in southeastern Australia, including rivers and estuaries of South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales. They are slender-bodied, with a mottled brown to olive colouring, a pale…

Western Pygmy Perch

Interesting Info The Western Pygmy Perch is a tiny freshwater fish found only in southwestern Western Australia, making it an endemic species. Their body is deep and short, coloured golden-brown to olive with darker mottling. The species name vittata means…

Beady Pipefish

Interesting Info Beady Pipefish are found across the Indo-Pacific, including much of northern Australia from Western Australia to Queensland. They are a slender, elongated fish from the Syngnathidae family, which also includes seahorses and seadragons. It gets its name from…

Short-tail Pipefish

Interesting Info The Short-tail Pipefish is a slender, stick-like fish belonging to the Syngnathidae family, which includes seahorses, pipefish, and seadragons. The species has a very wide range — found across the Indo-Pacific, including northern Australia (Queensland, Northern Territory, Western…

Madura Pipefish

Interesting Info The Madura Pipefish is a slender, elongated fish in the Syngnathidae family, which also includes seahorses and seadragons. They are found throughout the Indo-Pacific, including northern Australia (Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia). Its scientific name heptagonus means “seven-angled,”…

Saltpan Sole

Interesting Info The Saltpan Sole is a small species of flatfish in the tongue sole family (Cynoglossidae) and is endemic to northern Australia. They occur across northern Australia, including the Kimberley region, Northern Territory rivers, Gulf of Carpentaria, and Cape…

Freshwater Sole

Interesting Info The Freshwater Sole is a small flatfish in the tongue sole family (Cynoglossidae) and is found in northern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea. They they occur from the Kimberley region (WA), across the Top End (NT), through…

Australian Bass

Interesting Info The Australian Bass is a prized native freshwater fish found in coastal rivers and streams of eastern Australia, from Bundaberg in Queensland down to Wilsons Promontory in Victoria. Their body is deep and streamlined, coloured dark olive to…

Freshwater Moray

Interesting Info The Freshwater Moray is one of the few moray eels that regularly ventures into freshwater rivers and streams, though it also lives in estuaries and coastal waters. In Australia, it is recorded mainly from Queensland, the Northern Territory,…

Pinkeye Mullet

Interesting Info The Pinkeye Mullet is a unique mullet found only in eastern Australia, ranging from the Clarence River in New South Wales north to the Fitzroy River in Queensland. Unlike most mullets, which live mainly in estuaries and coastal…

Ocellated River Goby

Interesting Info The Ocellated River Goby is found in tidal rivers and freshwater creeks of Queensland, the Northern Territory, and northern Western Australia. In addition to Australia, they are distributed widely across the Indo-West Pacific, from India and Southeast Asia…

Freshwater Mangrove Goby

Interesting Info The Freshwater Mangrove Goby is found in Queensland’s coastal rivers and swamps, often near mangroves and paperbark wetlands. Its body is slender, semi-transparent, and patterned with faint brown bands or mottling that help it blend into mangrove roots…

Common Galaxias

Interesting Info The Common Galaxias is found throughout Australia, from southern Queensland through New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia, mainly in coastal rivers and estuaries. Its body is semi-transparent and golden-brown with scattered dark spots and flecks along…

Freshwater Tongue Sole

Interesting Info The freshwater tongue sole is found across northern Queensland, the Northern Territory, and northern Western Australia, especially in slow-flowing rivers and floodplain lagoons. It also has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution, including Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea, and the…

Freshwater Herring

Interesting Info The freshwater herring species is endemic to eastern Australia, found only in coastal rivers from southern Queensland to the Hunter River in New South Wales. Its body is slender and silvery with a greenish or bluish back and…

Freshwater Longtom

Interesting Info The Freshwater longtom is found in coastal rivers, creeks, and lagoons of northern Australia, from Queensland across the Northern Territory to northern Western Australia. The species also occurs in New Guinea. Its body is silvery-grey with a greenish…

Boofhead Catfish

Interesting Info The Boofhead Catfish is found in northern Australia (Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia) and southern New Guinea, living in both rivers and estuaries. The body is dark grey to bluish on top and silvery below, with long whisker-like…

Pacific Shortfin Eel

Interesting Info The Pacific Shortfin Eel is found across northern Australia, from Queensland to the Northern Territory and into New Guinea and Pacific islands. Its body is dark olive-brown to almost black above and paler below, with a relatively shorter…

Southern Shortfin Eel

Interesting Info The Southern Shortfin Eel is found across southeastern Australia, including Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and parts of New South Wales, and also occurs in New Zealand and some Pacific islands. The body is dark olive to brown on…

Australian Brackish Water