Queensland Lungfish & Mary River Turtle
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2024
- The Mary River, in south-east Queensland, Australia, is home to the Mary River Turtle and the Queensland Lungfish. The proposed Traveston Dam would have placed even more pressure on these already threatened species, possibly wiping them out completely.
QUEENSLAND LUNGFISH (Neoceratodus forsteri)
The Queensland Lungfish is a living fossil, some records suggest it hasn't changed in at least 100 million years. Unique among fish, the lungfish has a modified swim bladder that it uses to breathe air at the water's surface. The lungfish will breathe this way to supplement the oxygen it takes in through its gills -- which is especially important when water quality is low and oxygen levels are reduced. The species can even survive out of water for several days if the skin is kept moist.
Lungfish mature slowly, and won't reach reproductive maturity for 17-22 years. They are particular about their spawning grounds: there must be suitable aquatic plants to protect the eggs and subsequent juveniles, and the water can't be stagnant. If conditions aren't right, a lungfish will re-absorb its spawn and wait for the next year. It will repeat this each year until conditions improve, or until the fish is too old to reproduce.
Already researches are noticing that there are fewer juvenile and young lungfish in the Mary River, which would indicate that either the adults are not spawning enough, or the eggs and juveniles aren't surviving in the current river conditions. The Queensland Lungfish is a protected species, and was put on the CITES list in 1977.
MARY RIVER TURTLE (Elusor macrurus)
The Mary River Turtle was only officially described in 1994. It has an uniquely long tail measuring two-thirds the length of its shell. It also has very long mandibles.
In the 1960s it was heavily collected by the pet trade. In recent years, its egg laying grounds are disappearing: riverbanks are eroding because of grazing cattle, and the river quality is altered because of human influences. The egg laying grounds that remain are often pillaged by dogs and foxes.
The Mary River Turtle is now among the world's top 25 most endangered turtle species, and is on the IUCN Red List. It is the second most endangered turtle species in Australia.
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Get angry about the Traveston Dam: • The Mary River Project
Learn more about saving the Mary River: savethemaryrive...
Learn more about the Mary River Turtle: aftcra.org.au/
Fascinating to watch footage of the Australian lungfish in the wild. Thank you!
Thank you :)
Awh. I love those little turtles.
Theres a river called the Stanley river just does stream from somerset dam, there is multiple waterholes in it that I was at today and i saw 100+ Queensland Lungfish in each water hole.
That's amazing and great news to hear. I'll try to get down there sometime to get some footage. Is it a public access area or private land?
@@UnderseaProductions it’s public, it’s abit of a walk through mud but it’s worth it
Probably was Alden, according to Wikipedia, they have been introduced to "Brisbane, Albert, Stanley, and Coomera Rivers, and the Enoggera Reservoir in the past century. The Queensland lungfish has also been introduced to the Pine, Caboolture, and Condamine Rivers" so they should be fairly widespread by now.
I think the Lungfish have been around over 400million years. According to David Attenborough about 360 million years one of them crawled out of the water a bit more often, and became the ancestor of all land vertebrates.
Cute video, nice quality!
Cheers :)
lungfish are so cool!!
They are indeed!
That's right Phillip, they have been introduced and therefore live elsewhere but are only "Native" to the two rivers stated.
Wow really cool video i love the shots of the turtle under water!
Amazing message and footage. I was wondering if I would be able to use segments of this footage (with full referencing and credit) in a university documentary, assessment piece in which I will be exploring the impact of dams upon endemic species (from SEQ) such as the lungfish and what needs to be done to mitigate the issues they pose.
Thanks. For written permission please contact us direct via our website.
Craig latta is a full time turtle poacher
love it
really nice video.
Hi!
Great to see your video. I've still yet to see a lungfish for myself out of captivity.
I'm researching Queensland Lungfish for an article in a publication called the Sandgate Guide in Brisbane. Lungfish had been found in two of our local lagoons and relocated after water levels became very low in 2003. No idea how they got here in the first place but wondering if you would like to hazard a guess whether they are likely to have reproduced? The lagoons are not as deep as their preferred habitats and are muddy bottomed rather than sandy. I'd love to know if there could still be some here, which would pretty much hinge on whether they bred here or not.
Hi Leanne,
Thanks for watching.
I'm no expert on the species but I know they were released in rivers south of their known natural range including the Brisbane River. Seems a shame to relocate a species evolved to handle drastic drought water levels but I'm sure the situation demanded it.
I have no idea if they may have reproduced but I suspect not. If they could have naturally then they probably already would have been there. They are fussy with where they spawn (waterweeds I think might be super important) and with human impacts thrown in (weirs, dams, development) I doubt many fish would have found suitable weedy habitat.
If anyone knows, it might be Tom Espinoza. I worked with him on a Mary River Cod filming job and he knows his stuff. His paper onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/rra.2607 will give you a head start. Really nice bloke too. Good luck in you search and I highly recommend a snorkel in this waterhole if you want to see one for yourself. Charlie Moreland Imbil will get you there in Google Maps.
Best fishes!
Josh
Sorry I wasn't more clear MartianSanta. What I meant to say was "the Queensland Lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri is only native to two rivers". Please excuse my abbreviation.
Were there lung fish found in Wivenhoe Dam early 2010?
Lovely video. As a life-long naturalist who will be visiting the area how easy is it to snorkel and see a Lungfish? Any pointers of good locations?
Easy if the water is clear, Doug. This lungfish footage was filmed in the swimming hole at Charlie Moorland Reserve, near Imbil, on the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Get there before the swimmers and kayakers stir things up.
Wow. That was fast! Thank you very much! I was thinking it would be extremely difficult to see them. Greatly appreciated.
how can you tell its a male or female lungfish ?
lung fish in Africa, America, and Asia are the modern species who have evolved to survive droughts by burrowing in the mud. The Australian lungfish is their ancient ancestor who cannot survive a drought and were here before the dinosaurs. 400 million years ago.. this species evolved to the first amphibian who made it to land..it's flippers evolved to legs.
dam damms people think that there ''realy safe for the envirment'' and 'a great source of clean energy'' when in the pasific northwest and here (and prob other places aswell) there harming vunerable ecosystems
they live elsewhere. not just in those 2 rivers .. lets not get carried away here .