North-eastern New South Wales, March 2002

For two weeks in March, staff of the Fish Section and volunteers joined forces with Tony Gill of the Natural History Museum, London to sample marine, estuarine and freshwater areas on the north coast of New South Wales.

We made 37 collection stations, which are yielding some interesting surprises including new records for New South Wales and a possible new species (view details below).

The collections have been registered into the research collection. We now have a better understanding of the fish fauna of northern coastal New South Wales. The specimens are available via loans to researchers worldwide.

A second trip to the area was conducted in November - December 2002.

The following fishes were of particular interest.

• Apogonichthys ocellatus - new record for NSW (southern range extension)
• Bathygobius laddi - new record for NSW (southern range extension)
• Bathygobius meggitti - new record for NSW (southern range extension)
• Callogobius depressus - northern range extension for AMS collection
• Grammistes sexlineatus - new mainland NSW record
• Lutjanus rivulatus - new record for NSW (southern range extension)
• Matsubarichthys inusitatus - new record for NSW (second known specimen)
• Micrognathus andersonii- new record for NSW (southern range extension)
• Myrichthys maculosus - southern mainland range extension
• Nannocampus pictus - new record for NSW (southern range extension)
• Pomacentrus bankanensis - first AMS database record for NSW
• Priolepis inhaca - new record for NSW (southern range extension)
• Pseudamia gelatinosa - second NSW record
• Redigobius bikolanus - second NSW specimen
• Retropinna sp. - potential new species
• Spratelloides gracilis - southern mainland range extension
• Valenciennea longipinnis - southern range extension for AMS collection
• Xiphophorus helleri - new introduced fish record for NSW