“There were three species of eel, Eastern Rainbow Fish (Melanotaenia duboulayi x splendida), Olive Perchlet (Ambassis agassizii), Spangled Perch (Leiopotherapon unicolor), Eel-tailed Catfish (Neosilurus hyrtlii), and three species of Gudgeons, which are smallish, 2-10cm native fish with beautiful colours.”
“While not unexpected, we also recorded two invasive species, the Eastern Gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki), as well as a Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). Recording these invasive species, and their locations, has provided critical insights into managing them and their impacts on the wetland and species protected in Reedy Creek Reserve.”
The Eastern Gambusia, or Mosquitofish, is an infamous species known for destroying native fish populations country-wide. Notably, they threaten the Red-finned Blue-eyes of Edgbaston.
A short distance from the well-trodden paperbark forest boardwalk, visited by thousands of tourists and locals every year, Stephen Kearney, Ecologist, Dean Gilligan, Freshwater Ecologist, and Christian McCollum, Reedy Creek Reserve Manager, set up their third survey location and found something intriguing.
“In a quite shallow part of the creek amongst Melaleuca and ferns, strangely where we get lots of visitors, we managed to identify a crayfish in the Tenuibranchiurus genus which has not been recorded before.”