Freshwater Fish Group & Fish Health Unit

24/09/2026

Our crew is back in the Kimberley looking for Dwarf Sawfish in the Fitzroy River - the aim is to collect some small tissue samples for a kinship study. Make sure you say G'day if you are out fishing this weekend!

24/09/2026

Congratulations Mark, this is great recognition for decades of fish research

21/09/2026

15/09/2026

14/09/2026

12/09/2026

A newly published review paper on Green Sawfish

The sawfishes (Pristidae) are a group of large-bodied, shark-like rays that are among the most threatened marine fishes, having experienced substantial population declines over the past century, primarily due to overfishing and habitat loss. The green sawfish (Pristis zijsron) was once among the mos...

04/06/2026

Funded by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust under the Urban Rivers and Catchments Program, the WA Urban Carp and Goldfish Roundup, with support of OzFish Unlimited as well as Local Government authorities of Western Australia, our team has been removing tonnes of feral fish from Perth's waterways.

The team recently captured a huge female feral Carp, weighing in at almost 12kg and at over 82 cm long, it is record carp for the group.

The team tests all fish for parasites, including the Asian Fish Tapeworm (Schyzocotyle acheilognathi) which can be lethal to native fishes - and there is concern that it will infect fish in the Swan River estuary and native fishes in urban wetlands.

Pictured below is Cindy Palermo with the record Carp, which was hauled into the boat with the help of Jake Daviot and Tom Ryan.

see also https://www.perthnow.com.au/wa/perth/north/stirling/record-breaking-119kg-carp-caught-in-perths-northern-suburbs-as-researchers-target-feral-species-c-22351480

Murdoch University

13/05/2026

Awesome project and great effort from the Winjan Rangers, members of our team and the HRRT. Let’s keep reducing these feral crustaceans and hope to get Marron and Gilgies back!

🎣 The Great Yabby Fish-Out is Back! 🦞

The nets are out, the excitement is building, and the yabbies are… well… trying their best to stay hidden! 😄

Last week kicked things off in a big way, with an impressive 2000+ yabbies counted across the catch! 📊 As the days went on, numbers gradually dropped — a promising sign that the efforts are making a real impact.

This week, we’re back at it again! 💪
Day 1 saw the amazing Winjan Rangers teaming up with researchers from Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute, hauling in around 500 yabbies 👏

That’s a strong start — and while the numbers are still high, we’re hopeful. 🤞 Over the next couple of days, with a bit of luck (and a lot of hard work), we’re aiming to see those numbers continue to decline.

Every yabby removed helps protect our waterways and ecosystems 🌿💧 — so this is more than just a fish-out, it’s a powerful community effort!

📍 Stay tuned for updates as the week unfolds… will the numbers keep dropping? Let’s find out! 👀

08/05/2026

Murdoch student (a few years ago) who worked on the osteology of pygmy perch

29/04/2026

Bull Sharks on the hunt in the Kimberley's Fitzroy River; footage courtesay of G. Marino