''Craterocephalus lentiginosus'', the freckled hardyhead is a species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the family Atherinidae

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Kimberley region The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts ...

in the northwest of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is also called the Prince Regent hardyhead. This fish was first described in 1987. It has been found in variety of habitats, brackish pools or flowing to turgid waters, in the Upper Roe River and one of its tributaries. The distribution range is within the

Prince Regent National Park Prince Regent National Park, formerly the Prince Regent Nature Reserve, is a protected area in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. In 1978 the area was nominated as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Land The national park covers a tot ...

(formerly the Prince Regent Nature Reserve). Little is known about the biology or ecology of the freckled hardyhead, but it is an

omnivore An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutr ...

Conservation

The species was assessed as least concern on the Red List. It is listed as rare under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and as lower rish by the Australian Society for Fish Biology.

References

Craterocephalus lentiginosus Freshwater fish of Western Australia Kimberley (Western Australia) Craterocephalus lentiginosus Taxa named by Walter Ivantsoff Taxa named by Lucy Elizabeth Lillian Mary Crowley Taxa named by Gerald R. Allen Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Atheriniformes-stub