Endangered
Galaxias fontanus
Galaxias fontanus
Galaxias fontanus is a galaxiid in the family Galaxiidae (order Osmeriformes), recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
The colouring of the fish changes from a dark olive-green on its back and sides to a white-grey on its stomach. The sides and back form a pale brown speckling with irregular brown bars and patches. It has a medium forked tail fin with its dorsal fin situated above the vent.
Adult Swan galaxias have a length that ranges from 7cm to 13cm and can weigh up to 8 grams.
The distribution of the Swan galaxias is listed below as described by fresh water ecologist Scott Hardie (2006).
Range and habitat
The Swan galaxias species is endemic to Eastern Tasmania and only found in freshwater streams within the Swan River catchment. It is commonly found along the headwaters of the Upper Swan River, specifically in small tributaries located upstream. Within the catchment, the Upper Swan River, Blue Tier Creek and Tater Garden Creek have resided natural populations of the Swan galaxias due to the presence of the Hardings waterfall.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Adult Swan galaxias are "opportunistic carnivores" that feed on aquatic and terrestrial species. Other prey they routinely feed off is aquatic insects (such as stoneflies, dragonflies and mayflies) and small planktonic crustaceans (such as water fleas, krill and copepods).
The larvae and juvenile fish feed off algae found on rocky substances of the stream floor. The fish have a spawning period is an extended period of time of 3 months within the spring season (typically August and October). Spawning occurs in the adult habitat with the deposition of eggs amongst the shallow marginal lotic and lentic rocky environment.
In crisis
Natural populations are very small and fragmented, however the species has been successfully introduced into other predator-free streams. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The primary threat to the Swan galaxias is predation from exotic and introduced species, poor water quality, extreme climatic conditions and human activities such as agriculture and damming.
Conservation practices were funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWFN) and the Endangered Species Program of Environment Australia (ESP) to conserve the species population. In 1987, the Swan Galaxias was first introduced to the Blue Tier Creek to test the viability of translocation as a recovery action for the species.
Galaxias fontanus is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Galaxias fontanus, Wikidata item Q1097628. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
