Can you tell an eel buy its colour?

[Baccus]

With the flood waters in Rockhampton quickly receding I finally got back into my normal place of work along side the mighty Fitzroy river, and saw literally thouands of fish all gasping along the edges of the fast flowing water.

Aside from the thousands of tiny salmon tailed catfish bubs and their monster parents, huge boney bream, sooty grunter, golden perch, long toms, various other small bait fish there was also some monster eels. Most of the eels I saw where the speckled type like this guy

But I also saw some all grey eels (even bigger that rivelled the huge catfish for head size) with a darker strip down their back.

But the most stunning eel I saw was a real bright fluro green, it was really pretty and still fairly lively so alas I missed out on getting a picture of it before it disappeared into the murk again. Are all these eels likely to be the same species/ type just from different sections of our huge catchment or was I seeing 3 definant different breeds of eel?

[2OFUS]

It more then likely was the Reinhardti

male and female

not 100% though

[northboy]

We have a number of species in North QLD and most are Anguilla species, the grey/ silver one was most likely A. obscura although it is not suppose to be That far South? and A. australis is not suppose to get that far North?. The one in the photo is for sure Reinharti.

I don't think any one has done any serious work on Anguilla sp. in Queensland as a whole.

There was a new Anguilla found up here last year.

Bob

[Gbang]

WOW!!! that's amazing!!!

[Baccus]

Thanks, I knew the speckled guy was a fairly common one, I have seen them plenty of times, but the huge grey type I have never seen before. And the stunning fluro green was a real surprise.

How far south should A. obscura be? Rocky's catchment extends all the way to inland from Mackay or is that still too far south?

I will be back at the river today so I am going to keep my eyes peeled for another fluro green and hopefully I will get a picture of it.

The real sad thing to see with the flood is all the fish dying, amazing and interesting to see all the species but still so sad.

[Baccus]

These couple of pictures might give you a better idea how big some of these eels are, although I have seen bigger ones again than the one in the photos

And the sad thing to see, every bay or sheltered part of the raging river has got hundreds of fish jammed into it dying. In this picture there is mostly salmon tailed catfish

but you might also be able to see the sooty grunter and one of the big boney bream

[northboy]

The Wholesalers in Brisbane and Melbourne will take all the Salmon tail cat baby's you can catch!

Must be the vegetation in the river causing the low oxygen? or is the bottom of the river polluted?

OH boy is that going to stink in a few days

Bob

[Gbang]

giddy up baccus!!!! everyone loves salmon tails!!! bring them down so they can get some new homes :)

[fish4fish3]

It's sad to see so many fish dieing slowly like this. You would think that a flood would help clean out the system and revitalise it, not clean out all living creatures.

Should re home them but running the risk of bringing home a desease probably isn't a good idea.

[Gbang]

yes actually....can anyone please explain why they are dying? i'm a little confused and lacking knowledge

[Baccus]

They are dieing partly because they have hit salt water, all be it diluted by the fresh flood water. But also from the silt inthe water clogging up their gills and the rotting vegetation. There could also be pollution from the mines and goodness knows what from septic tanks and sewerage.