(Due to technical difficulties – I put the wrong publish date in the computer – Friday Fish Time comes to you on Saturday.)

Murray Cod: The Murray Cod is the largest freshwater fish in Australia, and one of the largest in the world. While it is called a cod – it isn’t and is not related to the northern hemisphere marine cod.

It is found in the Murray-Darling river system. The cod population has declined severely since European settlement Australia due to overfishing, river regulation and habitat degradation.

A long-lived fish, they are carnivorous and mainly eat other fish. The species exhibits a high degree of parental care for their eggs, which are spawned in the spring and are generally laid in hollow logs or on other hard surfaces.

They are large fish, with adults growing regularly to between 80 and 100 cm in length in all but the very smallest waterways. Murray Cod are capable of growing well over 1m and the largest on record was over 1.8m and about 113kg in weight.