NODE LEADER:
Dr David Morgan, Freshwater Fish Group (Murdoch University)
BACKGROUND:
Before 1995 there was almost no information on this species, but some of the freshwater fish researchers at the time were concerned that it may have disappeared.
We now know that the species is extremely rare, which led to it being listing in 2006 as VULNERABLE under the EPBC Act 1999 and as endangered under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950.
Today it exists mainly in Government Estates. Our aim is to identify critical habitats for the species, including summer refuges, breeding and nursery areas and threatened populations to aid in the creation of Fish Habitat Protection Areas for the species
DEMONSTRATION SITES:
Blackwood River, Hay River
FURTHER READING:
Beatty, S.J., Morgan, D.L., Rashnavadi,
M. & Lymbery, A.J. (2011). Salinity tolerances of endemic freshwater fishes
of south-western Australia: implications for conservation in a biodiversity
hotspot. Marine & Freshwater Research
62: 91-100.
Gill, H.S. & Morgan, D.L. (1998). Larval development of Nannatherina balstoni Regan
(Nannopercidae), with a description of ontogenetic changes in diet. Ecology
of Freshwater Fish 7: 132-139.
Morgan, D.L., Beatty, S.J., Klunzinger, M.W.,
Allen, M.G. & Burnham, Q.E. (2011). A field guide to the freshwater fishes,
crayfishes and mussels of south-western Australia. SERCUL, Beckenham, W.A.
Morgan, D.L., Gill, H.S. & Potter, I.C. (1995). Life cycle, growth and diet of
Balston's pygmy perch in its natural habitat of acidic pools. Journal
of Fish Biology 47: 808-825.
