Take a look at the Witjira-Dalhousie hot-springs fishes now on the national threatened species list

Three fish species from Witjira-Dalhousie springs have been been added to the national Threatened Species List under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act listed in the category of Critically Endangered.

Ecologist Dr Nick Whiterod from the Goyder Institute for Water Research CLLMM Research Centre has spent two decades working on the conservation of freshwater species and ecosystems, including species in the springs.

“The Dalhousie Goby, Dalhousie catfish and Dalhousie hardyhead which were just listed in July 2024 and the Dalhousie Mogurnda which was listed in September 2023, occur in an amazing network of mound spring pools in the desert in far north South Australia in Witjira National Park.

“The culturally and ecologically significant pools are fed by warm groundwater from the Great Artesian Basin and water temperatures can approach 40°C.

“These small fish have evolved to cope with the harsh conditions but remain vulnerable to threats that affect the pools that they depend on, such as changes in water inflows caused by water extraction in the Great Artesian Basin, temperature and rainfall changes caused by climate change and weeds and feral animals damaging the pools.

“The listing of these species that are found nowhere else in the world is important and it must be met with greater attention and effort to implement conservation actions to ensure they continue to persist.

“The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has identified almost 90 Australian freshwater fishes as threatened using globally recognised criteria, but so far only 63 Australian species have been put on our national list.

“This shows us we still have a way to go in listing all at-risk native fish.”

Biodiversity Council Co-Chief Councillor Professor Hugh Possingham from The University of Queensland said that having an accurate threatened species list to guide conservation strategies and decisions is essential to preventing extinctions and recovering species.

“It is of course sad that these desert springs fish species found in the incredibly unique Dalhousie Springs complex are in so much trouble that they have been assessed at Critically Endangered.

“Recognising their plight and listing them under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is an important step in protecting these species, but needs to be followed with targeted action to address the key threats to their long-term survival.

"These species are incredibly range restricted, meaning they only occur across a small area, so if something were to wipe out these species in this area they will be extinct."

He said the government needed to fund more recovery teams. "Those recovery teams are local landowners, local councils, scientific experts, First Nations people, and they rally around the species ... sometimes it's a multi-species group."

"They work out what actions are required, what monitoring, what research, what on-ground interventions are required to save those species."

Read an ABC News story to hear more from Dr Nick Whiterod and Professor Hugh Possingham and also Wangkangurru and Yarluyandi elder Don Rowland talking about the significance of the fishes and their unique oasis home.