> Quoted from 'The Galaxiid Fishes of Australia' - Mc Dowall and Frankenberg;
> "G. pusilla is possibly able to aestivate during some life history stage.
> Miss J. Barclay (Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne) collected a
> sample from a swamp near the confluence of Diamond Creek with the Bunyip
> River. On returning to obtain more specimens at a later date the habitat had
> dried up and it was noy until a further visit, after rains when water
> returned to the swamp, that further, mostly very small fish, were collected.
> These may either have invaded the area from elsewhere, or hatched from
> aestivating eggs. The small size of the fish caught is consistent with their
> having hatched recently from aestivating eggs."
Basically, the theory goes that within a week or two of water the fish
emerge and begin to spawn relatively quickly. Paul Humphries did an
honors thesis at this same site and he found a delay between the
appearance of fish in the swamp and juviniles. He actually found some
data to support aestivation without realising it too! The creek is
permanant, the swamp dries up. He looked at fish length in both
habitats. Once the swamp filled with water the size class in the swamp
was smaller than that in the creek. If the fish in swamp were
aestivating they would presumably not be growing, thus, they would be
the same age but lesser length.
Hoorootles
Peter J Unmack peter.unmack at asu.edu
PO Box 1454
Tempe AZ 85280-1454, USA
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DESERT FISHES RULE: To boldly thrive where no other fish can make it!
Check out the Australian desert fishes pages at
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/tnhc/.www/fish/dfc/
just click on the Australian portion of the map