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 a faint mid-lateral line, resembling marine herrings and sardines.
• It is named after the Richmond River in NSW, where it was first described and remains an important part of the ecosystem.
• Adults inhabit freshwater rivers, billabongs, and floodplain lagoons, sometimes more than 100 km inland, but they always need access to estuarine or tidal areas for spawning.
• Their diet consists mainly of zooplankton, algae, insect larvae, and detritus, which they filter from the water using fine gill rakers.
• They often form large schools, especially during feeding and migration, making them a visible part of river life.
• Breeding occurs in the lower reaches of rivers during summer and autumn, where adults release floating eggs that drift downstream and hatch quickly.
• Larvae develop in estuarine and lower freshwater habitats before migrating upstream as juveniles.
• They were once heavily fished commercially, especially in the Richmond and Clarence rivers, but are now mainly taken in small-scale recreational fisheries.
• The lifespan is typically 4–5 years, with most adults breeding once or twice before dying.