Australia has over 5000 described species of fish, a quarter of which are

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 else ...

Seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

and

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

are major and highly regulated industries, and fishing for

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

and

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does incl ...

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

fish is popular.

Species of freshwater fish

For its land-size,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

has a low diversity of native

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, especially the difference in levels o ...

with only 281 described species. This is largely because Australia is a very dry continent with sporadic rainfall and large areas of

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

. There is a higher diversity of salt water fish. The most common freshwater fish are: * Murray cod *

Australian bass The Australian bass (''Macquaria novemaculeata'') is a small- to medium-sized species of primarily freshwater (but estuarine spawning) fish found in coastal rivers and streams along the east coast of Australia. A member of the genus '' Macqua ...

Other species include: *

Australian grayling The Australian grayling (''Prototroctes maraena'') is a primarily freshwater fish found in coastal rivers in south-eastern mainland Australia and Tasmania. In past decades it has also been known as the cucumber mullet or cucumber herring, for ...

Australian smelt The Australian smelt (''Retropinna semoni'') is a small, pelagic silvery freshwater fish found in large numbers in waters of the south eastern Australian mainland. Distribution The fish is endemic to Australia and widely distributed through ...

Climbing galaxias The climbing galaxias or kōaro (''Galaxias brevipinnis'') is a fish of the family Galaxiidae found in Australia, New Zealand, and nearby islands. The name climbing galaxias is used in Australia, and koaro or kōaro in New Zealand. Further verna ...

Common galaxias The common galaxias (''Galaxias maculatus'') or inanga (from the Māori ''īnanga'') is a very widespread Southern Hemisphere fish in the family Galaxiidae. It is a slim, narrow fish with a forked tail and a mottled, spotty pattern, typically ...

Eastern freshwater cod The eastern freshwater cod (''Maccullochella ikei''), also known as the eastern cod or Clarence River cod, is a large predatory freshwater fish of the genus ''Maccullochella'' and the family Percichthyidae, that occur in the coastal Clarence Rive ...

Eel-tailed catfish The eel-tailed catfish, ''Tandanus tandanus'', is a species of catfish ( order Siluriformes) of the family Plotosidae. This fish is also known as dewfish, freshwater catfish, jewfish, and tandan. This species is a freshwater fish native to t ...

Estuary perch The estuary perch (''Macquaria colonorum'') is a species of temperate perch endemic to south-eastern Australia, where it prefers brackish waters such as lower tidal reaches of coastal lakes, rivers, and streams. Appearance It is very similar t ...

* Flathead galaxias *

Golden perch The golden perch (''Macquaria ambigua'') is a medium-sized, yellow or gold-coloured species of Australian freshwater fish found primarily in the Murray-Darling River system, though a subspecies is found in the Lake Eyre-Cooper Creek system, an ...

* Halfbeak/Garfish * Jardini * Inanga * Macquarie perch *

Mary River cod The Mary River cod (''Maccullochella mariensis'') is a species of temperate perch native to the coastal Mary River system of southern Queensland, Australia. Mary River cod are one of Australia's most endangered freshwater fishes and are notab ...

Mountain galaxias ''Galaxias olidus'', the mountain galaxias, is a species of freshwater galaxiid fish widely found in southeastern Australia. Description As for other members of the species complex, although ''Galaxias olidus'' exhibits a greater range of charac ...

Queensland lungfish The Australian lungfish (''Neoceratodus forsteri''), also known as the Queensland lungfish, Burnett salmon and barramunda, is the only surviving member of the family Neoceratodontidae. It is one of only six extant lungfish species in the world. ...

Rainbowfish The rainbowfish or Melanotaeniidae is a family of small, colourful freshwater fish found in northern and eastern Australia, New Guinea (including islands in Cenderawasih Bay and Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia), Sulawesi and Madagascar. The la ...

Retropinnidae The Retropinnidae are a family of bony fishes that contains the Southern Hemisphere smelts and graylings. They are closely related to the northern smelts ( Osmeridae), which they greatly resemble, but not to the northern graylings (''Thymallus'') ...

River blackfish The river blackfish (''Gadopsis marmoratus'') is a freshwater fish endemic to the temperate waters of south-eastern Australia. It is found from southern Queensland through to central Victoria, including in the Murray- Darling river system. It ...

* Saratoga * Salamanderfish *

Short-finned eel The short-finned eel (''Anguilla australis''), also known as the shortfin eel, is one of the 15 species of eel in the family Anguillidae. It is native to the lakes, dams and coastal rivers of south-eastern Australia, New Zealand, and much of t ...

* Sleepy cod *

Trout cod The trout cod (''Maccullochella macquariensis'') or bluenose cod, is a large predatory freshwater fish of the genus ''Maccullochella'' and the family Percichthyidae, closely related to the Murray cod. It was originally widespread in the south ...

Two-spined blackfish The two-spined blackfish (''Gadopsis bispinosus'') is a species of temperate perch endemic to Australia. It is found in the cool, clear, strong-flowing, cobble bottomed, sub-alpine rivers and streams (ranging from small to large) in the southe ...

Western carp gudgeon The western carp gudgeon (''Hypseleotris klunzingeri'') is one of several carp gudgeon species. Carp gudgeons are very small perciform fish (similar in size, shape and colour) found in the Australian Murray-Darling River system, mainly in low ...

Marine fish

''Abelites'' * Starry triggerfish *'' Abelites stellates'' ''Anlaby's'' *'' Anlaby's taenianotus'' ''Abilene's'' * Flat needlefish

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Australia Recreational fishing