Western rainbowfish

Melanotaenia australis

Color patterns vary by region

Tropical
Transcontinental
Freshwater fish
Oceania
Fusiform
Small
Tropical fish

Melanotaenia australis, the western rainbowfish, is a species of freshwater rainbowfish endemic to Australia's Kimberley and Pilbara, Top End. The western rainbowfish (Melanotaenia, australis) is one of the most common and highly abundant freshwater fish endemic to north-western Australia; It ranges from the Ashburton River in the Pilbara region of Western Australia to the Adelaide river in the Northern Territory. It shows extensive geographic variation in their color pattern.

Class: Teleosts
Order: Silversides
Family: Melanotaeniidae
Genus: Melanotaenia
Maximum length: 11 cm
Water: Freshwater
Body shape: fusiform
Distribution: Oceania: widespread in northwestern Australia; throughout the Pilbara region of Western Australia between the Ashburton and DeGrey Rivers and in the Kimberley region in the extreme northern part of Western Australia between the Fitzroy River and the Northern Territory border. Also in the northwestern sector of the Timor Sea drainage of the Northern Territory as far as the Adelaide River just east of Darwin.
Conservation status: LCLeast Concern

Report a correction