The red-finned blue-eye (''Scaturiginichthys vermeilipinnis'') is a tiny,

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

species of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

in the family

Pseudomugilidae The Pseudomugilidae, the blue-eyes, are a family of atheriniform fish. They were formerly treated as a subfamily of the Melanotaeniidae. They inhabit fresh and brackish water in Australia, New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini' ...

. It is the only species in its genus. The species was first recorded in 1990. It is

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 ...

central Queensland Central Queensland is an imprecisely-defined geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Cap ...

in Australia, where it is restricted to springs in Bush Heritage's Edgbaston Reserve.

Description

The fish reaches up to in length, and only males have red fins.

Habitat and distribution

The fish only live in shallow, slightly salty water in Edgbaston Reserve, which is owned by

Bush Heritage Australia Bush Heritage Australia is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, that operates throughout Australia. It was previously known as the Australian Bush Heritage Fund. Its vision is: Healthy Country, Protected Forever. ...

. The water in the springs can vary from near freezing in the winter to in the summer.

Conservation status

It is listed as ''

Critically Endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

'' 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 as ''Endangered'' under

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...

. In September 2012, the species was placed on the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

list of 100 most endangered species on the planet. It was originally found in seven springs in its small range in the Edgbaston Reserve, but by 2012 only survived in three of these, although another three translocated populations existed in the reserve. By 2021 were only found in one spring. They are at risk from extinction due to competition and predation by the flourishing introduced

eastern mosquitofish The eastern mosquitofish (''Gambusia holbrooki'') is a species of freshwater fish, closely related to the western mosquitofish, ''Gambusia affinis''. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes. The eastern mosquitofish i ...

(''Gambusia holbrooki''), water extraction and habitat loss. Gambusia is a huge threat as an

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

, which is out-competing many species in Australia. An intensive conservation programme has been developed to save the species. The Edgbaston goby (''Chlamydogobius squamigenus''), 11 snail species, a small

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

, a

flatworm Platyhelminthes (from the Greek language, Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") is a Phylum (biology), phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, Segmentation (biology), ...

, a spider and a

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

are restricted to springs in the same reserve and also threatened. In February 2021, captive-bred fish were released into the wild spring, boosting the population from about 200 to approximately 3,000.

Ecological role

It has been hypothetically posed that the red-finned blue-eye eats the seeds of an endangered species of the ''

eriocaulon ''Eriocaulon'' is a genus of about 400 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Eriocaulaceae, commonly known as pipeworts. Etymology The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek ἔριον, , meaning 'wool', and καυλ ...

'' (pipewort), which is part of the plant's life cycle, and up to 11 species of endemic snail may potentially rely on this plant as a food source. Whether the fish actually acts in this way to help maintain the spring ecosystem is unknown but it is not worth the risk to lose the species in case it plays such an ecologically important role in the spring ecosystem.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2119798 Pseudomugilinae Freshwater fish of Queensland Critically endangered fauna of Australia Nature Conservation Act endangered biota Central Queensland

red-finned blue-eye The red-finned blue-eye (''Scaturiginichthys vermeilipinnis'') is a tiny, critically endangered species of fish in the family Pseudomugilidae. It is the only species in its genus. The species was first recorded in 1990. It is Endemism, endemic ...

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot