Australian bass - a valuable recreational angling species

Australian bass - a valuable recreational angling species

East Coast catfish - a high conservation value species

East Coast catfish - a high conservation value species

Sea mullet - a high commercial value species

Sea mullet - a high commercial value species. Also known as bully mullet or striped mullet.

Freshwater mullet - a commercial and conservation value species

Freshwater mullet - a commercial and conservation value species. Also known as Pinkeye mullet or locally as 'Pointys'. The Federal Government is currently determining whether this species should be classed as 'threatened'.

Goldfish - an alien species

Goldfish is an alien fish species. Poor system health is indicated when their abundance is high.

Plague minnow - another alien species

Plague minnow (Gambusia) is an alien fish species. Poor system health is indicated when their abundance is high.

Biodiversity - number of aquatic taxa

This biodiversity measure provides  insights into the health of the system. "Number of taxa" is equivalent to the 'number of species' when all individuals are identified to the species level, but this is seldom possible.

Number of native taxa recruiting

An index of recruiting level for native fish provides a measure of system health. The index is the number of native taxa with Level one recruitment (i.e. 25% of recorded individuals being year-one recruits).

The  Platypus is an iconic species which the public has great interest in. Given the Platypus relies on large quantities of aquatic macroinvertebrates as food, and high quality riparian habitat for breeding, its abundance can be considered to  provide a measure of aquatic ecosystem health.