Journal article
Spawning season movements of Macquarie perch (Macquaria australasica) in the Yarra River, Victoria
WM Koster, DR Dawson, JR Morrongiello, DA Crook
Australian Journal of Zoology | Published : 2013
DOI: 10.1071/ZO13054
Abstract
The Macquarie perch (Macquaria australasica) is a threatened fish species that inhabits rivers and impoundments in south-eastern Australia. Previous studies have shown that Macquarie perch in impoundments exhibit synchronised upstream spawning migrations to shallow, fast-flowing habitats in the lower reaches of inflowing streams. There has been little study of movement behaviours of entirely riverine populations of Macquarie perch despite this being the species' natural habitat. Here, radio-telemetry is used to test the hypothesis that riverine populations exhibit synchronised migrations during the spawning season. Thirty Macquarie perch in the Yarra River, Victoria, a translocated populatio..
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Funding Acknowledgements
Melbourne Water funded this study. We gratefully acknowledge A. King for input into the design of the study and the assistance of R. Coleman and D. Borg from Melbourne Water in the management of the project. R. Coleman, D. Borg, F. Amtstaetter, M. Nicol, D. Hartwell, J. McKenzie and D. O'Mahony assisted with the fieldwork. Thanks to Z. Tonkin, J. Kearns, J. Lyon, T. Matthews, J. Koehn and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on earlier versions of the manuscript, and to P. Moloney for advice on data analysis. This study was conducted under Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Permit 10004292 and 10004894, Fisheries Victoria Research Permit RP827, and ethics permit AEC 08/18 and 10/11 (ARI Animal Ethics Committee).