Australian Bass (Macquaria novemaculeata)

Description
Australian bass is one of Queensland's most sought after and exciting recreational sportfish. They are prized sport fish due to their tenacious fighting qualities and their willingness to take flies and lures, as well as bait. They grow to more than 57cm or 3.5kg. Australian bass are sexually mature at 4 years of age (34cm), and can live up to 18 years old. This species is often dark grey in colour or can be olive-green to bronze coloured along the back, becoming cream or silvery along the belly.

Habitat/Distribution
Being a freshwater and estuarine fish, the Australian bass ranges from the Mary River, Hervey Bay and Tin Can Bay regions of southern Queensland, through coastal rivers of New South Wales and into Victoria (Gippsland). Australian bass move out of freshwater into saline estuaries during midwinter to spawn. Many riverine populations are reduced in numbers, probably due to habitat loss and construction of dams and weirs that prevent upstream migration of post-spawning fish and (later) the fry. Many freshwater dams and weirs have been stocked with Australian bass and form the basis of a growing recreational fishery in these areas.

Aquaculture Potential
Generally only utilised as a fingerling for stocking in dams, very little work is continuing into growing out this species in Queensland. Being highly predatory and difficult to handle in large quantities when older, they can be very time consuming to work with.

Condabilla Fish farm is excited at the prospect of achieving plate size bass for the market floor. To date we have achieved high feeding activity on artificial sinking pellets and is proving to be very robust.

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