Wivenhoe Dam - Fauna

Fauna

The dam is home to the vulnerable Australian lungfish. Anne Kemp, a researcher from the University of Queensland, estimates there was a population of 800 in 2010 but many are swept out of the dam when the spillway is opened and that their food source of molluscs and clams is insufficient to maintain the lungfish in the dam.

Self-sustaining populations of lungfish have lived in dams in South East Queensland for over 100 years since 1896. Lungfish were originally restricted to the Mary and Burnett river systems but due to perceived threats to their survival they were introduced to other rivers and dams, including the Brisbane River, in 1895–1896. This was done to improve the viability of the species.

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