Australian goldfish
| Australian goldfish | ||||||||||||
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Female Australian goldfish |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Macquaria ambigua | ||||||||||||
| ( Richardson , 1845) |
The Australian goldfish ( Macquaria ambigua ) is an Australian freshwater fish and belongs to the cod family . The genus Macquaria was named after its occurrence in the Macquarie River .
description
The Australian goldfish is a medium-sized fish with a length of 30–40 cm and a weight of 1–2 kg, although the perch are heavier in stagnant waters. Animals with a weight of 23 kg and a length of 76 cm have already been caught in dammed water. In rivers, the weight record of the species is only 9 kg. The perch is compressed on the sides and the body color ranges from bronze to olive green to brownish, with the belly being yellowish. The English common name for the fish, Yellowbelly , which is used next to the name Golden Perch , is derived from this yellow color . It has a slightly protruding lower jaw and a rounded tail. He can live to be over 25 years old, with an average of 10 to 12 years. The Australian goldfish feed on fish, mollusks and crustaceans .
distribution
The species is mostly found in the lower reaches and billabongs of the Murray Darling Basin . It prefers cloudy, warm, deep, slowly flowing inland water, but it can also survive in brackish water with a salinity of 3.2% ( sea water 3.5%).
Reproduction
The fish migrate up to 1000 km upstream to spawn there in late spring, with sexual maturity in males after 2 years and in females after 4 years. A normal sized female can carry half a million eggs and spawns them when the water temperature is above 20 ° C. The larvae, initially 3.5 mm in size, hatch after a very short time of 1–2 days and then swim downriver again.
Threats
Human intervention through dams and weirs disrupts the migration behavior of the animals and the spawning behavior. This can have unpredictable effects on populations.
literature
- Hans A. Baensch , Rüdiger Riehl and Kurt Paffrath: Aquarien Atlas 2nd 7th edition, Mergus, 1997, p. 1036 ISBN 3882440112
Web links
- Australian goldfish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Golden Perch , Fish Factsheets from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission
- Golden Perch on the Department of Agriculture ( NSW ) website