Golden Perch - Range

Range

It is native primarily to lowland reaches of the Murray–Darling river system, but also push significant distances into upland reaches as well. In the Murray–Darling system golden perch are often found in sympatry ("together with") Murray cod, Maccullochella peelii peelii.

The Macquaria perches, of which golden perch are one, continue the trend present in native fish genera of the Murray–Darling system of speciating into a lowland species and a specialist upland species. Golden perch, Macquaria ambigua, are the lowland species while the closely related Macquarie perch, Macquaria australasica, is the speciated, more specialised upland species which used to inhabit the upland reaches of the southern Murray–Darling basin, although this endangered species has now been almost wholly displaced by introduced trout species and habitat degradation/modification.

Like many Murray–Darling native fish, golden perch have crossed into eastern coastal river catchments through natural river capture events. Golden perch are found naturally in the Fitzroy–Dawson river in central Queensland and have also entered the internal Lake Eyre–Cooper Creek drainage system of Central Australia.

Both of these separate populations are likely to be separate species due to isolation from parent Murray–Darling populations, genetic drift and natural selection. The taxonomy of golden perch has not been updated to reflect this, although the term Macquaria ambigua oriens, denoting sub-species status, has recently appeared in literature discussing the Fitzroy–Dawson population.