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Saratoga
» RFF - A Prehistoric Fish
RFF - A Prehistoric Fish
The southern Saratoga (Scleropages leichardti) are native only to the Fitzroy River system and all of its tributaries, including the Dawson, Isaac, MacKenzie, Donn and Connors Rivers, along with Fairbairn Dam (Lake Maraboon) in Central Queensland. In recent times, the southern Saratoga has been stocked to various locations, where they have established great breeding populations. Dams or impoundments like Borumba Dam and Lake Cania are a great example.
Saratoga are also mouth brooders. What is a mouth brooder you ask? With a mouth brooder, the adult carries its eggs in its mouth. So one of the Saratoga parents will carry around 60-100 large eggs, depending on parent size and continue that for 6-8 weeks after hatching. Of course not all eggs are viable and all hatchlings don't survive as parents can only carry so many fingerlings in their mouth. So, reasonably low recruitment numbers from individuals survive. Their spawning rituals normally start late winter and into early spring.
Saratoga are the true barramundi (Aboriginal for large scaled fish) and it was their common name until quite recent times. The name barramundi was also applied to the Queensland lungfish (also called the Ceratodus) which looks similar to Saratoga both in the water and out. It is believed that perhaps a mispronunciation of the name Ceratodus, and some confusion as to which fish was which, led to the name 'Ceratoga' or 'Saratoga'. This appears to have then stuck. I find it interesting as both have evolved and are our closest dinosaur natives. Also both have a bony palette on their bottom jaw, which is an angler's nemesis with many a fish lost from lack of hook penetration.
Later, in the mid-1980's, a collaboration between the Qld Fisheries and Qld Seafood Industry named certain species common names to avoid confusion depending on where you were located. So, they officially changed the name from barramundi to Saratoga. In Australia we are fortunate enough to have two species of Saratoga. The northern Saratoga (Scleropages jardini) are found from the Gulf of Carpentaria, right across the top end into Western Australia, with a few small isolated pockets on the cape. To the untrained eye both Saratoga species look the same, however upon close inspection they are quite different.
Cheers, Robbie