The sleepy cod (''Oxyeleotris lineolata'') is a medium-sized fish in the family

Butidae Butidae is a family of sleeper gobies in the order Gobiiformes. The family was formerly classified as a subfamily of the Eleotridae but the 5th Edition of Fishes of the World classifies it as a family in its own right. Molecular phylogenetic anal ...

, native to

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

fresh waters of northern

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 ...

and questionably from

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. It is a member of the order

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means ...

, thus is unrelated to the true cods in the order

Gadiformes Gadiformes are an order of ray-finned fish, also called the Anacanthini, that includes the cod. Many major food fish are in this order. They are found in marine waters throughout the world and the vast majority of the species are found in temper ...

. Neither are they closely related to the Australian freshwater cods such as the Murray cod of the genus ''

Maccullochella ''Maccullochella'' is a genus of large Australian predatory freshwater fish within the family Percichthyidae. The genus ''Maccullochella'' was named after an early Australian fish researcher with the surname ''McCulloch''. The ''Maccullochella'' ...

''. They are one of the most favoured freshwater fish in Australia for eating, having white, flaky flesh, low fat content, and a mild flavour.

Morphology and biology

The sleepy cod can reach a length of , though most do not exceed . Fish up to have been caught by anglers. They are dark brown along the back and paler on the sides, with fuzzy dark lines running along scale rows. Juveniles have a white or cream patch running along the back and top of the head, with brown sides and a white belly. Females spawn in the

benthic zone The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning " ...

from October to February. Males guard nests of up to 70,000 eggs until larvae hatch, usually after 5–7 days. They are usually found in quiet or slow-flowing water in freshwater rivers, creeks, and

billabong Billabong ( ) is an Australian term for an oxbow lake, an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course. Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end. As a result ...

s throughout northern Australia.

References

External links

Native Fish Australia - Sleepy Cod page

Photograph

sleepy cod The sleepy cod (''Oxyeleotris lineolata'') is a medium-sized fish in the family Butidae, native to tropical fresh waters of northern Australia and questionably from New Guinea. It is a member of the order Perciformes, thus is unrelated to the ...

Freshwater fish of Australia

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