DISTRIBUTION AND CONSERVATION STATUS OF THE TWO-SPINED 
BLACKFISH GADOPSIS BISPINOSUS IN VICTORIA 
J. D. Koehn 
Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084 
Koehn, J. D.. 1990:11:30. Distribution and conservation status of the two-spined blackfish, 
Gadopsis bispinosus , in Victoria. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 102(2): 
97-103. ISSN 0035-9211. 
In Victoria, the two-spined blackfish, Gadopsis bispinosus , is restricted to the upper 
reaches of streams north of the Great Dividing Range in the eastern part of the state, at 
altitudes of 200-760 m. The western limit of the species' range appears to be King Parrot 
Creek, about 50 km north-east of Melbourne: the northern and eastern parts of its range 
extend into New South Wales. Recent surveys and the re-examination of Gadopsis speci¬ 
mens collected before G. bispinosus was described in 1984 show that G. bispinosus is 
common and abundant throughout its range, with more than 2087 specimens having been 
recorded from 55 sites. Consequently, the conservation status of this species in Victoria is 
revised to the category of‘restricted', i.e. “a taxon which is not presently in danger but which 
occurs in a restricted area”. 
THE GADOPSIDAE is a family of freshwater 
fish endemic to south-eastern Australia and con¬ 
taining two species in the genus Gadopsis. The 
freshwater blackfish, Gadopsis marmoratus 
Richardson. 1848, is widespread throughout 
Victoria and has been the subject of much 
research (Jackson 1975, 1978a, 1978b, 1981, 
unpublished data. Jackson & Llewellyn 1980, 
Jackson & Williams 1980, Koehn 1986, unpub¬ 
lished data). The two-spined blackfish, Gadopsis 
bispinosus Sanger, was described in 1984 after a 
detailed study of the taxonomy of the Gadopsis 
complex (Sanger 1984, 1986). G. bispinosus is 
distinguished from G. marmoratus bv having 
two (range 1-3) instead of 11 (range 6-13) dorsal 
fin spines and by having a prominent white 
fringe on the dorsal, anal and caudal fins (Sanger 
1984). 
The present paper records the localities in Vic¬ 
toria where G. bispinosus has been collected. An 
assessment of conservation status is made on the 
basis of the abundance of the species at many 
sites, its distribution, its biological requirements 
and possible threats. 
METHODS 
Information on the distribution of G. bispinosus 
was obtained from specimen collections of the 
Fisheries Division and the Museum of Victoria, 
from recent surveys conducted by Fisheries 
Division staff, from recent publications (Sanger 
1986, Brumley et al. 1987, Morison & Anderson 
1987, Anderson &Morison 1989), and from two 
reliable but unconfirmed reports by an angler. 
The surveys were conducted at 46 sites, many of 
them lying outside the range of G. bispinosus 
described in this paper, but these helped to 
establish the species’ western limit of distri¬ 
bution. 
Of the Gadopsis specimens held by the Fish¬ 
eries Division and the Museum of Victoria, all 
those which had been collected before G. bi¬ 
spinosus was described and which had been 
previously identified as G. marmoratus were re¬ 
examined. 
Abundance data available from many surveys 
were collated and, together with distributional 
data, were presented for discussion at a meeting 
convened at the Arthur Rylah Institute for 
Environmental Research on 12 August 1989 for 
the purpose of reviewing the conservation status 
of Victorian native freshwater fish (Koehn & 
Morison 1990). 
RESULTS 
G. bispinosus has been recorded from 55 sites in 
Victoria (Fig. 1, Table 1). The specimen from 
site 10 was collected in 1974 prior to the filling of 
Lake Dartmouth, so that this population can no 
longer be confirmed. One specimen in the 
Museum of Victoria (registration no. NMV 
A7982, recorded as being from the “Jamicon 
River, Victoria”, presumably the Jamieson 
River) was collected on 11 December 1885. The 
species was also recorded by Sanger (1986) from 
unspecified localities in the Indi River, Snowy 
Creek (a tributary of the Mitta Mitta River) and 
the Catherine River (Ovens River Basin). 
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