Spotted Galaxias, Galaxias truttaceus Valenciennes 1846

Other Names: Minnow, Mountain Trout, Native Trout, Ocellated Mountain Trout, Spotted Minnow, Spotted Mountain Trout, Spotted Trout, Spotted Trout Minnow, Trout Galaxias, Trout Minnnow, Western Mountain Trout, Yarra Trout

A Spotted Galaxias, Galaxias truttaceus, from Blackfish Creek, Wilsons Promontory, Victoria. Source: Ken Harris / Museum Victoria. License: CC BY Attribution

Summary:

A distinctive galaxias with vertical rows of pale-edged dark spots along the side, a dark diagonal stripe below the eye and reddish-orange fins with dark margins. Spotted Galaxias have a wider body than most other Galaxias species.

Although eastern and western Spotted Galaxias populations are genetically distinct, Morgan et al. (2016) found no evidence that these subpopulations reflect either different species or subspecies.

Video of Galaxias truttaceus from the Freshwater Fish Group, Murdoch University.

Galaxias truttaceus at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria.

Galaxias truttaceus at Waratah Bay in the Cape Liptrap Coastal Park in Victoria. Common Galaxias, Galaxias maculatus, can also be seen briefly at several points in the video.

Spotted Galaxias (Galaxias truttaceus), Common Galaxias (Galaxias maculatus), Freshwater Flathead, Congolli (Pseudaphritis urvillii) and Southern Shortfin Eel (Anguilla australis) in Fotheringate Creek, Flinders Island, Tasmania.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. & Gomon, M.F. 2023, Galaxias truttaceus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 24 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3682

Spotted Galaxias, Galaxias truttaceus Valenciennes 1846

More Info

Distribution	Southern Australia, upstream of Mallacoota Inlet (Victoria) to Eight Mile Creek, Port MacDonnell (South Australia), including throughout Tasmania and the Bass Strait Islands, and three catchments in south Western Australia: Goodga River, Angove River and Kent River. Eastern Australian populations are diadromous with marine larvae, while those in south-western Australia are landlocked. Inhabits still or flowing rivers, streams and lakes, usually sheltering around aquatic vegetation, rocks, logs and overhung banks. Juveniles have been observed ‘climbing’ and ‘jumping’ to successfully negotiate a low, vertical weir wall during their upstream recruitment migrations in south-western Australia.
Features	Dorsal fin 11-15 (usually 12-14); Anal fin 14-19; Pectoral fin 13-16 (usually 14-15). Body stout, elongate, greatest depth 5.4-5.8 in SL; head long, broad and deep; mouth large, reaching back to below front of eyes; jaws equal; enlarged canines absent from jaws; pyloric caeca reduced to vestiges. Scales absent. Fins large; anal fin origin slightly behind level of dorsal fin origin; caudal fin emarginate.
Size	To about 20 cm SL, commonly 12-14 cm.
Colour	Brown to olive overall with pale-edged dark spots scattered on the back and sides and a dark diagonal bar below the eye. Fins reddish-orange with dark posterior margins.
Feeding	Adults feed on aquatic insect larvae, and terrestrial insects that fall onto the water surface; larvae feed mainly on microcrustaceans.
Biology	Coastal populations in eastern Australia spawn in autumn to winter and the larvae have a marine phase of several months before returning to estuaries at 45-65 mm in spring. Spawning occurs in spring in land-locked populations after an upstream migration to feeder streams with larvae completing their pelagic phase in lakes. Around 1000-16000 small adhesive eggs are deposited amongst dense submerged vegetation during Autumn. Larvae hatch at 6.5-9.0 mm TL after about 4 weeks, and are swept out to sea. The larvae spend several months in the open ocean before returning as transparent 'whitebait' in Spring. Populations in southwestern Australia are landlocked and potamodromous. They migrate upstream within rivers to spawn in mid-late autumn, and use downstream lacustrine environments as a nursery before migrating back into the river systems as juveniles.
Conservation	EPBC Act 1999 : Critically Endangered (Western Australian subspecies) The genetically distinct Western Australian population of Galaxias truttaceus is listed as Endangered under the Western Australian Wildlife Conservation Act 1950.
Remarks	Western Australian populations are genetically distinct from those in the eastern states of Australia.
Etymology	The specific name truttaceus (= trout-like) is from the Latin trutta (= trout), presumably in reference to Valenciennes seeing the resemblance between this species and a small trout: “ the rounded shape of the body and the arrangement of spots make it look like this fish is a small trout”.
Species Citation	Galaxias truttaceus Valenciennes 1846, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons 18: 344, pl. 543. Type locality: Tasmania.
Author	Bray, D.J. & Gomon, M.F. 2023
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Spotted Galaxias, Galaxias truttaceus Valenciennes 1846

References

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Close, P.G., Ryan, T.J., Morgan, D.L., Beatty, S.J. & Lawrence, C.S. 2014. First record of ‘climbing’ and ‘jumping’ by juvenile Galaxias truttaceus Valenciennes, 1846 (Galaxiidae) from south-western Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 62(2): 175-179. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ZO14004

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