Bidyanus bidyanus
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Terapontidae (Grunters)
Bidyanus
Bidyanus bidyanus
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: short and / or deep.
Distribution
Oceania: known only from the Murray-Darling River system, Australia. Range boundaries: Chinchilla (on the Condamine River), South Queensland, Bonshaw (on the Dumaresq River), northeastern New South Wales, Albury (on the Murray River), southeastern New South Wales, Seven Creek and Goulburn River, South Victoria.
Habitat Associations
Freshwater. benthopelagic.
Biology
Adults are found in rivers, lakes and reservoirs, preferring fast-flowing waters of rapids and races and usually forming aggregations near the surface. Usually found below rapids and weirs (Ref. 44894). Feed on aquatic insects, mollusks, earthworms and plants. Temp.: 2-37°C. Maturity: F, 3 y and 34 cm SL; M, 23.3 cm SL. Spawning: summer (Nov.-Jan., 23-30°C water temp.), effect upstream migration. Fecundity: 500000 eggs per 1.8kg. Eggs: pelagic, 2.7-2.8 mm diameter. Hatching: 30 hrs at 26-27°C. Larvae: 3.6 mm at hatching. A good angling and food fish which has been increasingly utilized as an aquaculture species in farm dams throughout Australia (Ref. 44894).
Max length: 40.0 cm SL; common length: 30.0 cm SL; max weight: 1500 g.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (brood hiders); parental care: paternal. Upstream spawning migration in summer to areas behind the peak of the flood. Spawning commences late in the afternoon from the surface to a depth of about 4 m, where there is a flow over a gravel, rock rubble substrate. Considerable spawning activity happens at the water surface. A single female circles slowly to the surface with her head deep and several males participate in courtship and finally in fertilization (Ref. 2906).
IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened (NT), assessed 2019-02-13. Resilience: Medium (tm=2-3).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish; aquaculture: commercial.
References
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Merrick, J.R. and G.E. Schmida (1984) Australian freshwater fishes: biology and management. Griffin Press Ltd., South Australia. 409 p.
Allen, G.R. (1989) Freshwater fishes of Australia. T.F.H. Publications, Inc., Neptune City, New Jersey.
Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen and J.E. Hanley (1989) Pisces. Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 7. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 665 p.
Warburton, K., S. Retif and D. Hume (1998) Generalists as sequential specialists: diets and prey switching in juvenile silver perch. Environ. Biol. Fishes 51(4):445-454.
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