Cooper Creek Catfish

The Cooper Creek catfish, Neosiluroides cooperensis, is a species of catfish (order Siluriformes) of the family Plotosidae, and is the only species of the genus Neosiluroides. It is known from the Cooper Creek system of the Lake Eyre drainage. This species grows up to about 46.0 centimetres (18.1 in) SL.

It is usually found in larger, more permanent waterholes with an earth and clay substrate, where significant flow occurs only after severe rainfall events; at this time, water is typically very turbid. It is very aggressive towards other fishes, particularly in captivity. These fish feed on gastropods and crustaceans. This species has the largest egg size (3–4 millimetres or .12–.16–in) and the lowest fecundity (about 1000 eggs per spawning) per unit length of any plotosid catfish in Australia.

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