Two protected Australian lungfish kept illegally at a Gympie property have been given a new home, in a partnership between the Queensland Government and SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast Aquarium.
Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol officers found the two lungfish in a backyard pond when they searched a Gympie property with the Queensland Police Service.
Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries, Mark Furner, said Fisheries Queensland has donated the lungfish to the sunshine coast aquarium following a successful compliance investigation.
Just as the name suggests, the Lungfish fish has a lung, as well as gills like a normal fish, but they can encase their body in a cocoon made of mucus to remain moist when there is a drought, so they can survive until there is water back in the creeks and rivers – allowing them to evolve for over 400 million years.
Mr Furner said the case highlights the emerging black market interest in Queensland’s iconic endemic fish species.