The species was declared locally extinct in the Goulburn Murray catchment and then all of Victoria in 1998, after a very small population near Mildura was monitored over time before it too vanished.
Populations of the species still thrive in South Australia and NSW.
The Victorian status changed in 2018 when two individuals of the species were discovered in Third Lake near Kerang.
Another six individuals were soon found at Racecourse Lake and over the next two years more than 60 had been located and used as brood stock to breed numbers up for release in combination with outside populations.
One of several groups involved in the re-breeding program is Melbourne’s Sea Life Aquarium, which used its expertise and ‘meticulous’ trial-and-error of breeding processes and investigated thermocycles to simulate environmental temperature changes.
Precision in controlling temperature ranges and the introduction of live food into the captive fish’s diet triggered natural breeding cues.
The end result was the largest brood so far.
North Central CMA project officer Will Honybun said the breeding stock had a genetic diversity broad enough for release back into the wild without weakening the species’ gene pool.
“They were completely gone in our catchment so to find those original two was fantastic,” Mr Honybun said.
“We also got a government grant to fund the breeding.”
Environment Victoria awarded $59,670.00 to the program in 2021.
“We shared the brood stock around with a few breeders and got the numbers up eventually,” Mr Honybun said.
The nickname of ‘zombie fish’ has been given to the species due to its local resurrection.
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