Newly described carp gudgeon excites aquarists.

A rare Australian freshwater carp gudgeon, Hypseleotris barrawayi is currently capturing the imagination of aquarists worldwide. The attractive species was only described to science late last year despite being discovered in 1988, and interest from the hobby now seems to have ballooned.

It has been successfully bred in aquaria already but now a dedicated captive breeding program is aiming to conserve the species' conservation status whilst providing additional income for native communities by selling some of the offspring to the aquarium trade.

Dave Wilson, a fish breeder involved in the project remarked:

"The Barraway is small, rare and quite an attractive fish making it an interesting addition for aquariums".

H. barrawayi is native to the Upper Katharine river drainage, including the abandoned Sleisbeck uranium mine pit. All of its natural waters are contained within the Kakadu national park in Australia's Northern Territory.

Dr. Helen Larson, curator of fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and the goby specialist who described H. barrawayi said:

"In order to protect things with a restricted distributions like this, it's very good to have captive populations so that if anything does happen in the future - an accident, climate change, development, anything - and the habitat is damaged, we can put back specimens that have been captive bred."

Further information on the species can be found in: Larson, HK (2007) A new species of carp gudgeon, Hypseleotris (Pisces: Gobioidei: Eleotridae), from the Katherine River system, Northern Territory. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 23.