Melanotaenia australis (Castelnau)

Morgan, David L., Allen, Gerald R., Pusey, Bradley J. & Burrows, Damien W., 2011, 2816, Zootaxa 2816, pp. 1-64 : 13

Melanotaenia australis (Castelnau)

Western Rainbowfish

Melanotaenia australis was reported in all previous Kimberley freshwater fish studies, and not surprisingly, is present in all of the major river systems of the region ( Fig. 18). The species is also common within the Pilbara region of Western Australia (Morgan & Gill 2004) and extends from the Kimberley east to the Adelaide River in the Northern Territory ( Allen et al. 2002). The species is widespread and abundant and is found across all habitats, being most abundant in tributaries. For example, it was captured at 56 of 70 sites in the Fitzroy River sampled by Morgan et al. (2002, 2004a) and in 35 of the 40 sites sampled in the King Edward/Carson River systems by Morgan et al. (2006), where it represented ~80% of all captures. The relative abundance of the species was, however, considerably higher in tributary sites of the Carson River (~80% of all captures) compared to main-channel sites (~20% of all captures).