What makes a fish want to live in the desert?
Did you know that there are fish living in the Australian desert? Obviously, fish need water, and that’s usually scarce in the desert. However large parts of arid Australia sit over the Great Artesian Basin, which is an area where groundwater is under such pressure that if you dig a well, it’ll come to the surface all by itself… no pumping required! This is good news for fish, because weak points in the aquifer mean that water seeps to the surface and forms permanent springs in the desert. Because these springs are so isolated from other sources of fish, unique species have evolved that live only in spring complexes. One of the best looking of these fish is the red-finned blue eye, Scaturiginichthys vermeilipinnis, which lives only in springs on a single property in central western Queensland, Edgbaston Reserve. I was lucky enough to visit Edgbaston at Easter Read more
The Conservation Decisions Team 