The Lake Eacham rainbowfish (''Melanotaenia eachamensis'') is a species of

rainbowfish Rainbowfishes are small, colourful freshwater fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Melanotaeniidae, found in northern and eastern Australia, New Guinea (including islands in Cenderawasih Bay and Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia), Sula ...

in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Melanotaeniidae. It was once believed to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Yidyam (Lake Eacham), Queensland,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, but has since been proven to have a wider range.

Conservation

The species was initially thought to be extinct due to predation by native fishes—including the Barred Grunter (''Amniataba percoides'') and

Mouth Almighty ''Glossamia aprion'' is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish from the family Apogonidae, the cardinalfishes, from northern Australia and New Guinea. In Australia, it is commonly known as the mouth almighty. Description ''G. aprion'' has a cr ...

(''Glossamia aprion'')—illegally translocated to Lake Eacham in the 1980s. The species was rediscovered in private aquarists' collections, and has also been found to have a wider distribution in the Barron and Johnstone River systems. It is listed as Endangered on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

and on the EPBC Act 1999. This species inhabits small creeks and crater lakes, congregating along the shallow margins among aquatic vegetation, fallen logs, or branches.

References

* Allen, Gerald R.; & Cross, Norbert J. (1982). ''Rainbowfishes of Australia and Papua New Guinea''. Angus & Robertson, Australia. Lake Eacham rainbowfish Freshwater fish of Queensland Far North Queensland Vulnerable fauna of Australia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Gerald R. Allen Taxa named by Norbert J. Cross Lake Eacham rainbowfish {{Atheriniformes-stub