Freshwater Fish Group & Fish Health Unit in Perth, Western Australia | Educational research centre

Freshwater Fish Group & Fish Health Unit

Locality: Perth, Western Australia

Address: Murdoch University Perth, WA, Australia

Website: http://www.freshwaterfishgroup.com

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25.01.2022 A new paper in Hydrobiologia - demonstrating the importance of riparian shade and mussel burrowing to overcome the impacts of climate change on south-western Australia's only freshwater mussel (images M. Klunzinger and S. Beatty). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10750-020-04268-0

23.01.2022 Some of our efforts to control feral fish appeared on Perth’s 9 News a moment ago.

23.01.2022 We captured this monster Marron on camera today in WA. Marron are the third biggest freshwater crayfish in the world, and this was big!

21.01.2022 The Conversation on Australias most threatened freshwater fish.... https://theconversation.com/australias-smallest-fish-among-

21.01.2022 Great resources on sawfish at this website

21.01.2022 Three way symbiosis in Whale Sharks in the Maldives. Online early in Pacific Conservation Biology by Brad Norman, Samantha Reynolds and David Morgan https://doi.org/10.1071/PC20043

20.01.2022 Dwarf Sawfish are one of the least known sawfishes. King Sound and the Fitzroy River Estuary in northern Western Australia (Kimberley region) is arguably the most important refuge for the species. A paper published today explores their movement patterns and habitat use in the region. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aqc.3578

18.01.2022 Great news. Our team via Karissa Lear is compiling information on the species in Western Australia

17.01.2022 Crikey - check out this paper on filming in low vis waters and watch the footage https://doi.org/10.1071/PC19019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3314wUO4kA&feature=youtu.be

17.01.2022 This was one of the rescued freshwater sawfish in the Lennard River, Western Australia

17.01.2022 Quick trip to the Pilbara to download the sawfish receivers and some of our team managed to catch 7 Green Sawfish today. Thanks Andrew Slater for the photo with David Morgan, Travis Fazeldean and Karissa Lear. Go Team Sawfish!

16.01.2022 A new paper just came out online today "Big trouble for little fish: identifying Australian freshwater fishes in imminent risk of extinction" It was from a workshop held around 18 months ago. Basically our goal was to identify the fishes most likely to go extinct in the next 20 years.https://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/PC19053

16.01.2022 New paper - "Divergent field metabolic rates highlight the challenges of increasing temperatures and energy limitation in aquatic ectotherms" - sawfish and bull sharks in the Fitzroy River, Kimberley, Western Australia https://rdcu.be/b4jvS

16.01.2022 Some of our Serpentine research with the Peel-Harvey Catchment Council and Alcoa Foundation is reported. https://www.mandurahmail.com.au//live-work-play-river-hea/

16.01.2022 The Little Pygmy Perch features in a new paper by members of our group that was published this week in Aquatic Conservation - "Too little but not too late? Biology of a recently discovered and imperilled freshwater fish in a drying temperate region and comparison with sympatric fishes" https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aqc.3346

16.01.2022 Long-term monitoring (17 years) of the recruitment of Freshwater Sawfish reveals a boom-or-bust trend related to river discharge. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-53511-9

16.01.2022 Who doesn't love a crab sandwich? As West Aussies, we grew up chasing blue 'manna' crabs in the estuaries and coastal waters. Good news is it's about that time... of the year again - and apparently the crabs have gotten heavier over the recent decades! Our researchers have been monitoring crabs for decades and here is some interesting reading regarding decadal changes.... https://academic.oup.com//article-abstra/40/5/526/5876240 See more

16.01.2022 Some of our group talking lampreys https://www.abc.net.au//south-west-school-studen/12658236

15.01.2022 Over the last four nights, members of our group (Dave Morgan, Karissa Lear and Travis Fazeldean) have managed to capture 19 individual Green Sawfish in the southern Pilbara, Western Australia. These fish have ranged from new born pups (<80 cm) to a large female at 2.3 m in total length. This region appears to be globally significant to the survival of this critically endangered species. One more night to go, amid howling winds, murky waters and big tides!

15.01.2022 Live from Onslow, Western Australia. Releasing a tagged Green Sawfish. David Morgan, Karissa Lear with Travis Fazeldean

14.01.2022 Another very interesting paper from Brendan Ebner and Darrell Kemp on the cling gobies https://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/pdf/PC19020 https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC19020

14.01.2022 The team is getting ready to implant an acoustic tag in a large Green Sawfish in northern Western Australia - caught on drone by Andrew Slater. With David Morgan, Karissa Lear and Travis Fazeldean.

14.01.2022 We stumbled across one of our old photos (2014) of a mature male Pouched Lamprey (Geotria australis) in the Gardner River. Very rare to find mature adults in south-western Australian rivers.

14.01.2022 Great team effort. The bream were grown at our high tech facility. Onya Ben,Alan and others...great project

14.01.2022 We are thrilled to have received this 2 m metal freshwater sawfish donated by Perth artist Kitty Woodhouse @full.metal.kitty It is currently in the boardroom of the Harry Butler Institute at Murdoch University, but we are looking to display the magnificent piece of art in a more prominent position. The sawfish took Kitty over 200 hours to create and we were so pleased that we were chosen to house her. Thanks Kitty!

14.01.2022 Team Sawfish tagged 8 Green Sawfish last night in the southern Pilbara, Western Australia, including a 2.6m female. 41oC by day, but beautiful by night. They caught 6 in a 15 minute period! Go Team Sawfish

13.01.2022 An interesting paper on forgotten aquatic fauna (parasites) threatened by drying climates. Lymbery et al. (2020). Fish out of water: Aquatic parasites in a drying world. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.05.003

13.01.2022 A new paper out by members of our group on sawfish body condition in relation to annual flood strength in the Fitzroy River, Western Australia https://www.sciencedirect.com//artic/pii/S0048969720357636

12.01.2022 Balston's Pygmy Perch is a little known freshwater fish from the south-western tip of Australia. In 2006, exactly 100 years after it was discovered in the King River near Albany, it was added to the Australian list of threatened species. It has now (December 2019) been listed on the IUCN Red List as ENDANGERED.... Originally known as the King River Perchlet it has disappeared from the King River, Moore River and Turner Brook. Its disappearance from the King River has opened the door to trout stocking, with 10,000 Rainbow Trout recently stocked in the river. http://www.freshwaterfishgroup.com//ROY%20SOC%2097.2%20FIS

11.01.2022 We witnessed a feral Fox preying in the mangroves and then found this sawfish with what looks like claw marks and a bite out of it above the gills, plus bites out of its rostrum. Will be back out tonight to see where the fox at.

10.01.2022 Come down to Murdoch University Open Day 10-4, today

09.01.2022 We are fortunate to work on a globally important refuge for GREEN SAWFISH too. Check out some drone footage of our Dec 2020 trip in a remote part of Western Australia. https://vimeo.com/517938920/95f2352f7a See also: DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00847

07.01.2022 Dr Stephen Beatty with a monster Marron in south-western Australia. Caught, measured and released as part of a river monitoring program. You dont see many like this anymore! What a ripper!

07.01.2022 Marron, the world's third largest freshwater crayfish, and a Western Australian icon, feature in a newly published study in Aquatic Conservation and examines habitat use in a large reservoir. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aqc.3193

07.01.2022 Great idea for pest fish

07.01.2022 We have observed a large number of Green Sawfish newborn pups in Western Australia's Pilbara, and managed to tag 12 in two nights, including a 2 m sawfish. Lots of newborn Giant Guitarfish also present.

06.01.2022 Wow! What a huge fish. Thanks Mat for sharing

06.01.2022 We thought we'd share with you the unusual capture of a Green Sawfish (Pristis zijsron) in the Fitzroy River, Kimberley WA. While the river is world renowned for Freshwater Sawfish (and also Dwarf Sawfish), Green Sawfish are occasionally found in the river estuary, but mainly in the blue water of King Sound

06.01.2022 Thanks to the 1000s of people involved in this research https://www.murdoch.edu.au//preservation-and-conservation-

06.01.2022 NEW STUDY: Many Australian freshwater fish face imminent extinction A new paper by some of Australia's foremost freshwater fish researchers has identified the 2...2 species most at risk of extinction. The paper, based in part on the work of ASFB's Threatened Fishes Committee, also makes eight recommendations (summarised below) for conserving these species. 1. Management actions are urgently required, even for species not yet formally described, and should not wait for such description. 2. Conservation actions should not be delayed until the species under consideration are formally listed as threatened under the EPBC Act. 3. There is pressing need for the highly imperilled but currently unlisted species to be listed formally as threatened under national and state/territory legislative processes 4. A national freshwater fish action plan, like those available for threatened Australian birds, mammals and reptiles, is urgently needed. 5. Any update of the national Threatened Species Strategy must include fishes, as well as reptiles, frogs and invertebrates, in addition to the 20 mammals, 20 birds and 30 plant taxa prioritised in the first version. 6. There is a need and opportunity for state governments to provide more leadership in the conservation management of imperilled fish species restricted to their jurisdictions. 7. Climate change was assessed as the major threat overall, affecting all 22 species assessed. 8. Alien fishes were assessed here to be a major threat to 20 of 22 highly imperilled fishes. The authors conclude: "The probability of further extinctions of Australian freshwater fishes in the next two decades is extraordinarily and unacceptably high only urgent action, enhanced policy, and increased community awareness will prevent this from happening." Pacific Conservation Biology: https://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/PC19053 Citation: Lintermans M, Geyle HM, Beatty S, Brown C, Ebner BC, Freeman R, Hammer MP, Humphreys WF, Kennard MJ, Kern P, Martin K, Morgan DL, Raadik TA, Unmack PJ, Wager R, Woinarski JCZ, and Garnett ST (2020) Big trouble for little fish: identifying Australian freshwater fishes in imminent risk of extinction. Pacific Conservation Biology. Image: A pair of Daintree Rainbowfish, Cairnsichthys bitaeniatus, one of the species at major risk of extinction. Michael Hammer

05.01.2022 James, great interview with Barbara Wueringer

04.01.2022 A new report details the threat of invasive aquarium escapees to northern Australian aquatic ecosystems https://murdochaquaticresearchcentre.yolasite.com//AQUARIU

04.01.2022 Congratulations Brad

03.01.2022 New study by Brien Roberts et al. in Oecologia compares growth of Barramundi that are catadromous (migrate into freshwater) to non-catadromous (marine) ones. Migratory individuals have the upper fin on their non-migratory counterparts in Australia's Top End. The article is available here: https://link.springer.com/arti/10.1007%2Fs00442-019-04460-7

02.01.2022 All for a good cause. Support sawfish

02.01.2022 The students are dissecting at our base at Murdoch University in Perth. This is an exciting new course for those interested in fish and aquaculture. Aquaculture BIO380

01.01.2022 This week the Nyikina Mangala Rangers attended the Kimberley Cane Toad Forum in Fitzroy Crossing. It was an opportunity for Ranger groups, Parks & Wildlife and ...Researchers to come together to discuss strategies on how to manage the arrival of Cane toads on country. The front line is now at Fitzroy Crossing where the toads are moving West at approximately 50km per year. The Rangers will be visiting local schools and communities to bring awareness to the impacts these toads will have on the environment and to share some of the methods that will be used in the fight to save our native animals on Country. See more

01.01.2022 We were out and about tagging Green Sawfish in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, and also stumbled across our first Eyebrow Wedgefish! All were tagged with acoustic tags. Team Sawfish!!!