Elected representatives in government are in charge of the policy and funding that can make or break saving threatened species. Their decisions and actions matter.

Canberra has or used to have 17 threatened animals within its boundaries. One of them is me, the Murray Cod.

We took care to attach appropriate images that are as close to representative of each species as our resources and the availability of images allowed. However, we could not ensure perfect accuracy in every case. Some images show species that share the same genus but not at the species or subspecies level.

Murray Cod

Maccullochella peelii

Status: Vulnerable

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) lists threatened species under six categories:
Extinct, Extinct in the wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Conservation dependent. Read more about these categories

Maccullochella peelii is found across 35 electorates.

The Murray Cod is the largest freshwater fish in Australia. The species has been measured at up to 1.8 m in length and over 100 kg in weight although, acccording to McDowall, it has been most commonly weighed at about 10 kg. The Murray Cod has a broad head with a rounded snout and a concave profile. It has a large mouth with the lower jaw approximately equal in length with the upper jaw or slightly protruding. The species is predominantly light olive to dark green in colour with mottled patterning and white to cream-coloured undersides. The pectoral fins are large and rounded, and the soft dorsal, anal and caudal fins usually have distinct white, sometimes red, edges. The caudal fin is rounded and has 65–81 scales in the lateral line.¹

Explore more about this species on the Atlas of Living Australia

Changed surface and groundwater regimes