Tasmanian mudfish
species of fish
The Tasmanian mudfish (Neochanna cleaveri) is a small Australian amphidromous ray-finned fish in the family Galaxiidae.
Distribution
Neochanna cleaveri is found in coastal wetlands of south eastern Australia: around Tasmania, Flinders Island in Bass Strait and southern Victoria particularly Wilsons Promontory. Isolated populations occur in the Otways, near Geelong and Melbourne in Victoria, as well as in far eastern South Australia near Naracoorte. The fish's range has been significantly reduced, especially in Victoria, due to destruction of suitable habitat through human activity such as swamp reclamation and drainage.
Description
Typically galaxiid in form, scaleless, with an elongated, tubular body, and moderately sized mouth, it may be distinguished from other galaxiid species by the small eye and the blunt, rounded head shape with protruding tubular nostrils over the upper lip. Pectoral fins are rounded. The pelvic fins are small and set at about the midpoint of the fish's length, and the dorsal and anal fins are set right back with the dorsal fin slightly ahead of the anal. Caudal fins are rounded with well-developed flanges along the caudal peduncle reaching nearly to the posterior edges of the dorsal and anal fins. Greenish brown in colour, sometimes golden, they are greyish on their ventral surfaces, and marked with irregular darker mottled bands and blotches over the back, sides, and fin bases. Its length is up to 140 mm; commonly it grows to 80 mm.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tasmanian mudfish” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.