Serpentine River - Birriga Drain

Basin : Murray River

Catchment : Murray - Serpentine rivers

The condition of the Birriga Drain site (site code: MR101SERP1/6144450) has been assessed on several occasions:

  • 28-29 November 2014
  • 23-24 September 2020

Field assessments were conducted by Murdoch University's Freshwater Fish Group & Fish Health Unit in collaboration with 5 Rivers NRM (previously Peel Harvey Catchment Council) and the department.

The assessment was conducted using standard methods from the South West Index of River Condition. Measures chosen for this assessment included fish and crayfish, macroinvertebrates, aquatic habitat, water quality (dissolved oxygen and temperature logged over 24h, and electrical conductivity, pH, colour, alkalinity, turbidity and nutrients), fringing vegetation, channel morphology, erosion, connectivity, local land use and flow.

Condition summary

Please contact the River Science Branch for site information.

Fish and crayfish

Five fish and two crayfish species were found at this site across all sampling events:

  • Bostockia porosa (Nightfish)
  • Galaxias occidentalis (Western minnow)
  • Pseudogobius olorum (Swan river goby)
  • Tandanus bostocki (Freshwater cobbler)
  • Gambusia holbrooki (Eastern gambusia)
  • Cherax quinquecarinatus (Gilgie)
  • Cherax destructor (Yabby)

Only fish and crayfish are targeted by sampling methods. Other species that were caught and/or observed are listed below:

  • Chelodina oblonga (South-western snake-necked turtle)
  • Palaemon australis (South-west glass shrimp)

Click on the images below to learn more.

Please contact the River Science Branch for specific yearly species counts.

Species found in subcatchment

This includes all species found within the subcatchment of the assessment site, from this and previous studies in the area. The photos are linked to more information about each species, including maps of where they are expected across the south-west.

Explore other sites in the catchment