Australian bass

Description

The Australian bass (Macquaria novemaculeata) is a small to medium-sized, primarily freshwater (but estuarine spawning) species of fish found in coastal rivers and streams along the east coast of Australia. It is a member of the family Percichthyidae and the genus Macquaria (although some researchers place it in the genus Percalates instead). Australian bass is an important member of the native fish assemblages found in east coast river systems. It is a predatory native fish and an extremely popular angling species. The species was simply called perch in most coastal rivers where it was caught until the 1960s, when the name Australian bass started to gain popularity. Australian bass have a moderately deep, elongated body that is laterally compressed. They have a forked caudal ("tail") fin and angular anal and soft dorsal fins. Their spiny dorsal fin is relatively high, strong and sharp. They have a medium-sized mouth and relatively large eyes than can appear dark in low light or red in bright light. The opercula or gill covers on Australian bass carry extremely sharp flat spines that can cut fishermens' fingers deeply. Australian bass vary in colour from metallic gold in clear sandy streams to the more usual bronze or bronze-green colouration in streams with darker substrates and/or some tannin staining to the water. Australian bass are, overall, a smallish-sized species. Wild river fish average around 0.4–0.5 kg and 20–30 cm. A river fish of 1 kg or larger is a good specimen. Maximum size in rivers appears to be around 2.5 kg and 55 cm in southern waters, and around 3.0 kg and 60–65 cm in northern waters. Australian bass stocked in man-made impoundments (where they cannot breed) grow to greater average and maximum weights than this. In the freshwater reaches of coastal rivers in the warmer months, Australian bass require reasonable quality, unsilted habitats with adequate native riparian vegetation and in-stream cover/habitat. Australian bass generally sit in cover during the day. However, they are fairly flexible about the type of cover used. Sunken timber (“snags”), undercut banks, boulders, shade under trees and bushes overhanging the water and thick weedbeds are all used as cover. Such cover does not need to be in deep water to be used; Australian bass are happy to use cover in water as shallow as 1 metre in depth.