Lake Eyre is a vast endorheic basin within which lies the lowest point in Australia at some 15 m BMSL. It only fills with water occasionally and when it does so forms the country’s largest salt lake.

C. eremius does not occur in the lake itself since no fishes are able to survive there, rather it inhabits isolated freshwater springs, flowing artesian bores (wells), and ephemeral waterholes where it tends to be associated with rocks and other submerged cover.