Lungfish - growing habitat for a prehistoric fish with lungs | Discovery | Gardening Australia

Jerry meets an enormous, endangered prehistoric fish lurking in the Brisbane River - and the team leading an innovative underwater revegetation program aim to save it.
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The Australian lungfish is a prehistoric species that first appeared in Australia 380 million years ago, well before dinosaurs. It’s the world’s oldest known living vertebrate, remaining unchanged from its current form for over 100 million years.
They get their name from their ability to breath air from the surface of the water via a primitive lung. Adult lungfish can grow to more than 1.5 metres, weigh up to 40kg and live for well over 100 years.
There are other species of lungfish in Africa and South America.
Dr David Roberts is a senior research scientist with Seqwater, and he knows more than most about lungfish. “They’re the most important species left on earth. It’s significant from an evolutionary standpoint, it was here before the age of land animals. It has lungs, limbed fins that are fleshy lobes with bones and muscle. It has a rudimentary kidney system, so it can be out of the water. It has enamel in the teeth like us, it was the first thing to evolve. They have scales the size of a coffee cup. Everything about them is completely unique”.
The lungfish is the sole surviving species from 10 types once found in Australia, and its range is now restricted to just three rivers in south-east Queensland.
David has also found that the population is ageing, with few young surviving.
Lungfish lay their eggs in eelgrass and, when this is missing, so are the baby fish. Damming upstream limits regrowth after floods, so David is working with a team from Helathy Land and Water to revegetate the eelgrass.
Assistant team leader Mark Waud explains that the seeds are planted into ‘tiles’ of matting, which are then easier to plant out on the river bed, using pegs and rocks to hold them in place. Both the cornstarch pegs and jute matting will break down after a while.
Filmed on Yuggera Country in Brisbane, Qld
Featured plants:
Eelgrass (Vallisneria nana)
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[@Joy1957K]

Makes my heart happy to know that we are TRYING to save our species. The Australian Government needs to pull their fingers out and assist in a lot more conservation measures and funding! Thank you Gardening Australia. 👍👏👏👏🧡

[@Grimgool]

Love the lung fish, being an Australian myself really makes me proud of our wild life.

[@shitzuation]

7:23 omg so cute! 😍🥰🤩

[@thvtsydneylyf3th077]

Yeah! 😂 its like, booop! booop! help meeee! 🐠

[@braincloud9486]

Yeah 😊 I love how he handled it, so gentle with respect 🖤

[@Jewels64]

Fantastic work 🌱🐟

[@willd2156]

Incredible stuff. Great story and a great project. Love this country.

[@dvchel]

Proving once again Australia has a unique place in Earth's natural history .... like no place else to have Lungfish.

[@bmwoutlander]

Knighthoods all round for the people doing this great work.

[@madhawamanukularathna1879]

Beautiful work.

[@vishnupriyamk770]

Beautiful vedio.great work👍

[@wizardofoz1390]

How amazing

[@FRYEGS6]

The LUNG FISH, can breath air.

[@koiontop5627]

Hey, I was down at North pone dam and I'm pretty sure I seen one there, it's was a large fin thing that came out of the water. I was thinking maybe a shark but it would be to hard for it to get into there.

[@aussiemtnman1975]

As a kid in the 80s they where in Paynter creek woombye 😔

[@tinfinz]

what’s the botanical name of that Eel grass?;what’s the species name?

[@patientlydormantinpassion]

I accidently caught a lungfish in the US. Problem is he gas a hook stuck in his throat, how do I save itt?

[@ChessNoobX]

And some people still don't believe in evolution🤦

[@saraialegria]

Wish people didn't stab their mouths 🎣😒

[@tpl1486]

Scarce

[@makrisvasilis88]

is it tasty? any recipes?

[@anishaditya4400]

that man literally called the lung fish primitive, ancient is okay but primitive?

[@wes4192]

Is that politically incorrect? Do you think reparations or looting are in order?

[@DavidRoberts-dk5yp]

Definition of primitive fits well in this case "1. relating to, denoting, or preserving the character of an early stage in the evolutionary or historical development of something. "primitive mammals""

[@whatabouttheearth]

@@wes4192 Ain't you a somnabulistic shining example of human psychological neoteny.

[@whatabouttheearth]

No, primitive makes sense. Primitive means 'primary' and is almost synonymous with ancient, but it is more synonymous with 'original'. But in this case that isn't true. These extant species of lungfish, like the coelocanth, are not the same species as the extinct species, they're slightly different.

[@anishaditya4400]

@@whatabouttheearth exactly, that's what I meant, this species is not the same as the original ones , they might look the same but there should exist many variations within them. So, my question is how are they primitive? Let me say it publicly as well...

[@raphlvlogs271]

Key word: marine reforestation.

[@jessasto947]

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)