Murray Cod, Maccullochella peelii

Plates 85-86. The Murray Cod-Perch, Oligorus macquariensis (now known as the Murray Cod, Maccullochella peelii)

This great Cod-Perch is well known under the popular name of "Murray Cod" from its great abundance in the Murray River, and some fancied resemblance to a Cod, to which it has no affinity and little likeness. It is by far the largest of all our fresh-water fish, and is in request for the table all the year round. It sometimes reaches 100lbs. in weight, and examples of 40lbs. are common. It feeds voraciously on fish and crustacea; twenty full-grown specimens of the small Murray Crayfish (Astacopsis bicarinatus) were taken from the stomach of the specimen figured in our Plate 85, which measured three feet four and a half inches in length.

Very abundant in the Murray and all the rivers flowing into it, but not found naturally in any of the rivers of Victoria flowing south. The Acclimatisation Society many years ago introduced it for the first time into the Yarra, where it is now established, but does not thrive, although its voracity has sensibly diminished the numbers of several of the native fishes of that river, particularly the Blackfish (Gadopsis gracilis) and the Yarra Herring or Australian Grayling (Prototroctes maræna), which have now disappeared from the lower parts of the Yarra altogether.