Australian Grayling

NSW DPIRD gives the range as coastal south-eastern Australia, in Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales, with rare fish likely in South Australia, and says the species is now patchily distributed, with the Clyde River its most northern limit in New South Wales. The Inland Fisheries Service says it occurs widely in Tasmania but is uncommon, mainly in northern and eastern rivers and on King Island, and only below weirs and dams.

In Victoria the VFA places it in coastal drainages from the Hopkins River eastwards. Thought extinct in the state before 1970, it turned up in good numbers when fish surveys began in the early 1970s, with very large populations in the Mitchell, Tambo and Barwon rivers. The VFA says it has recently been confirmed again in several places in the Yarra River.

Our water records name grayling in the Merri River, recorded in 2024 above and below the Bromfield Street weir; in the Snowy River, recorded between 1980 and 2005; and in the South Esk River in northern Tasmania, recorded between 1975 and 1986. These are survey records, not fisheries.

The Inland Fisheries Service describes adults in creeks and rivers, usually cool, clear water over gravel, in reaches alternating between pools and rapids, sometimes above 1,000 metres. The VFA describes the same: cool, clear, moderate flow, gravel, pools and riffles. NSW DPIRD adds that in fresh water they hold in moderate to fast glides and runs by day and move to slower water at night.

They eat small crustaceans, insects and their larvae, and algae. They live fast: the IFS gives a life expectancy of up to three years, with maturity in the second year, and the VFA says most die before or during their third year. A few bad years of drought or flood can knock a river’s population down, and the VFA suggests survivors can repopulate quickly when conditions improve.

The life cycle is the reason barriers matter. Tasmania’s Threatened Species Link says the larvae are swept downstream to estuaries and the sea, spend about six months in salt water, then return to the rivers to live as adults, and it names barriers to fish movement as the major threat: migrating juveniles bunch up below a weir and are easy prey for predators. The IFS notes that the returning young fish form part of the late-spring whitebait run, and it lists possible predation by salmonids, brown trout and rainbow trout among them, during that whitebait stage.

NSW DPIRD says grayling are often confused with freshwater mullets, and that small grayling can be mistaken for Australian smelt. The features it gives are the pectoral fin sitting low, below rather than at the upper edge of the gill cover; a silvery body with an olive-grey to brownish back; the dorsal fin placed in front of the anal fin; and the small fleshy adipose fin between the dorsal fin and the tail. The VFA adds a slim body with a small head, large eyes that are usually bright yellow, a lower jaw shorter than the upper, no scales on the head and no lateral line. The IFS notes a keel along the belly and a dark streak along the middle of the flank.

The smell is the quickest check of all.

Unhook it in the water, quickly, and let it go. Victoria’s rule goes further than release: the VFA says taking or attempting to take a grayling, including catch and release, is prohibited, so if you are catching them, move to other water. Tasmania’s IFS says the species is totally protected and may not be taken without a permit. Report the sighting: Tasmania’s Threatened Species Link asks for records to go to the Natural Values Atlas, and NSW DPIRD has a reporting form for threatened fish.

Spawning is in fresh water, cued by higher flows. The VFA puts it in late April and early May, and the IFS gives February to May, after adults school below upstream barriers. Eggs sink to the bed downstream of the spawning site and hatch within 10 to 20 days; the 2 mm larvae drift to the sea. Juveniles come back in late spring, and the VFA says they move up to the middle reaches in November.

Check the current Victorian Recreational Fishing Guide, Tasmanian Inland Fishing Code or NSW DPIRD rules for the water you are on.

No. Despite the name and the adipose fin, Tasmania’s Threatened Species Link places the Australian grayling in the family Retropinnidae.

The agencies do not say why. The VFA and the IFS both record the strong cucumber smell of a freshly caught fish, and it is a handy field check.

Because the species needs to reach the sea as a larva and return as a juvenile. Tasmania’s Threatened Species Link names barriers to fish movement as the major threat.