Fish ‘back from the dead’ – and now they are breeding!

Southern Purple-spotted Gudgeon, once thought to be regionally extinct, were found in Third Reedy and Middle Reedy Lakes near Kerang, Victoria in 2019. Recently, a collaborative team of stakeholders including Aquasave-NGT ecologists collected 25 fish from the wild to begin an exciting breeding and reintroduction program. The fish were divided between two hatcheries including the Aquasave-NGT facility in Victor Harbor, South Australia, and we are proud to say that eggs were successfully laid and juveniles have now hatched. The picture below shows a male guarding and fanning eggs that are about to hatch.

The long term goal is to release sufficient numbers back into wild floodplain sites across the Murray River corridor to ensure the sustainability of this species. The project is being run by the North Central CMA, funded by a Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Icon Species Grant and supported by Native Fish Australia, Australia New Guinea Fishes Association, Austral Research and Consulting, City of Greater Bendigo, Middle Creek Farm and Aquasave-NGT.

For more information, contact Sylvia Zukowski; email below.