Species
Australia has the greatest number of Percichthyid species, where they are represented by the Australian freshwater cods (Maccullochella spp.), which are Murray cod, Mary River cod, eastern freshwater cod and trout cod, by the Australian freshwater blackfishes (Gadopsis spp.), which are river blackfish and two-spined blackfish, and by the Australian freshwater perches (Macquaria spp.), which are golden perch, Macquarie perch, Australian bass and estuary perch.
Several other Australian freshwater species also sit within the Percichthyidae Family while research using mitochondrial DNA suggests the species of the Nannopercidae family are in reality Percichthyids as well. Australia is unique in having a freshwater fish fauna dominated by Percichthyids and allied families/species. This in contrast to Europe and Asia whose fish faunas are dominated by members of the Cyprinidae carp family. (Australia does not have a single naturally occurring Cyprinid species; unfortunately the illegal introduction of carp has now established the family's presence in Australia.)
A number of species are or have been important food species; some of these (e.g. the Murray cod, Maccullochella peelii peelii) have become threatened through overfishing and river regulation, while others (e.g. the Chinese perch, Siniperca chuatsi), are now farmed to some extent. Some smaller species (e.g. Balston's pygmy perch, Nannatherina balstoni) are popular in aquaria.
The extremely rare Bloomfield River cod, Guyu wujalwujalensis, is only found in a short stretch of the Bloomfield River in north Queensland.
Read more about this topic: Temperate Perch
Famous quotes containing the word species:
“Not only does every animal live at the expense of some other animal or plant, but the very plants are at war.... The individuals of a species are like the crew of a foundered ship, and none but good swimmers have a chance of reaching the land.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Genius detects through the fly, through the caterpillar, through the grub, through the egg, the constant individual; through countless individuals the fixed species; through many species the genus; through all genera the steadfast type; through all the kingdoms of organized life the eternal unity. Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Let us guard against saying that death is opposed to life. The living is merely a species of the dead, and a very rare species.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)