Family/species Common name Maximum body size (S.L. mm) Feeding habits (common foods eaten) Spawning season and cues Life stages using floodplains Retropinnidae Retropinna semoni Australian smelt 65 Pelago-carnivore (aquatic insects/micro-crustaceans) Mid-late winter spawning on rising water temperature L J Terapontidae Bidyanus welchi Welch’s grunter 263 Benthivore (molluscs, crustaceans) Summer spawning on rising flows and floods J A Leiopotherapon unicolor Spangled perch 193 Pelago-carnivore (aquatic insects /crustaceans) No flow, seasonal or flow- related spawning L J A Scortum barcoo Barcoo grunter 280 Benthivore (molluscs, crustaceans) Summer spawning on rising flows and floods J A Alien species Cyprinidae Carassius auratus Goldfish 132 Pelago-carnivore (micro- crustaceans) Spring spawning, rising temperature Poeciliidae Gambusia holbrooki Mosquitofish 43 Pelago-carnivore (micro- crustaceans, terrestrial invertebrates) Summer spawning, no or low flows J A 4 – Natural flows drive the ‘ boom and bust’ ecology of fish in Cooper Creek 47