A native fish hotspot

I love fish. If I didn’t have a very strong aversion to cold water, I think I may have become a fish biologist.

Anyway, it ended up not to be… but I was thrilled last year when Kevin Warburton from Charles Sturt University asked me to illustrate some fish. The project had extra appeal because these fish live in my region – the Scenic Rim of south east Queensland. In particular, Kevin and the Scenic Rim Regional Council wanted to highlight how the Logan – Albert river systems are a biodiversity hotspot for native fish, and needed some drawings for educational signs.

These are the illustrations I created, for 8 fish species:

Australian Smelt Retropinna semoni

Crimson spotted rainbowfish Melanotaenia duboulayi

Marjories Hardyhead Craterocephalus marjoriae

Freshwater Catfish Tandanus tandanus

Longfin Eel Anguilla reinhardtii

Pacific Blue Eye Pseudomugil signifer

Sea Mullet Mugil cephalus

Western Carp Gudgeon Hypseleotris klunzingeri

A couple of weeks ago, Kevin got in touch with the exciting news that the signs have been installed at Il-Bogan Park (Beaudesert),  E. M. Tilley Park (Rathdowney) and Darlington State School. Here’s a pic of Kevin and some members of the Scenic Rim Regional Council environment team looking very pleased with themselves (as they should!):

The sign installation team. From left: Kevin Warburton, Miriam Nyrene, Joel Stumer and Brad Thompson.

And below is a close up of the finished sign. Thanks to Charles Sturt University, Scenic Rim Regional Council, Healthy Land and Water and the Queensland Government for supporting this work.