Harvey River - River Road

The condition of the River Road site (site code: HR140HARV1, site reference: 6134046),  in the middle catchment of the Harvey River, was assessed between 7 and 8 February 2018, over a 100-m length of stream.

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

The site was also assessed in February and May 2014 as part of a different project under site HARV11 (site reference: 6131428).

Four native species and two exotic species were recorded at this site across the 2014 and 2018 assessments. This includes two native fish (western minnow and nightfish), two native crayfish (marron and gilgie), and two non-native species (eastern gambusia and yabby).

A list of species is provided at the bottom of the page, click on the images to learn more about each species.

Note: only fish and crayfish are targeted by sampling methods, however where other species were caught and/or observed they are included below.

Although not targeted by collection methods the native rakali water rat (Hydromys chrysogaster) was recorded during February 2014 assessments, and Carter’s freshwater mussel (Westralunio carteri) were observed during May 2014 and February 2018 assessments. Notably the mussels were in good abundance at the last assessment in February 2018 with handfuls collected from the riverbed.

Mussels at River Road site, February 2018

For more information on this species or other aquatic species, please see the River Science fauna page here