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Australian bass (''Macquaria novemaculeata'') are a small to medium sized, primarily freshwater (but estuarine spawning) native fish found in coastal rivers and streams along the east coast of Australia. They are a member of the Percichthyidae family and ''Macquaria'' genus (although some recognize ''Percalates'' instead). Australian bass are an iconic, highly predatory native fish. They are an important member of the native fish faunas found in east coast river systems and an extremely popular angling species. The species was simply called perch in most coastal rivers where it was caught until the 1960s, when the name Australian bass started to gain popularity. ==Taxonomy== Australian bass (''Macquaria novemaculeata'') are closely related and very similar in appearance to estuary perch (''Macquaria colonorum''). Estuary perch however tend to remain in the estuarine reaches or (occasionally) the extreme lower freshwater reaches. Until very recently (i.e. late 2000s), Australian bass and estuary perch were placed in the ''Macquaria'' genus — one of a number of Australian genera in the Percichthyidae family — along with two species of native perch from the Murray-Darling Basin, golden perch (''Macquaria ambigua'') and Macquarie perch (''Macquaria australasica''). This revision to their taxonomy occurred in the late 1970s.〔McDonald, (1978)〕 Prior to that, Australian bass and estuary perch were placed in a separate genus, ''Percalates''. (Interestingly, the generic name ''Percalates'' is a compound of the generic names ''Perca'' and ''Lates'', and arose from an early, erroneous taxonomic belief that Australian bass were an old world perch related to barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'')). Results from recent research using genetic MtDNA analysis indicate Australian bass and estuary perch do belong in a separate genus to golden perch and Macquarie perch, and has resulted in Australian bass and estuary perch being placed back into a resurrected ''Percalates'' genus. A rather surprising and unexpected finding of this research is that the ''Percalates'' genus (i.e. Australian bass and estuary perch) appears to be genetically closer to the ''Maccullochella'' genus (i.e. Murray cod and other cod species) than the remnant ''Macquaria'' genus is (i.e. golden perch and Macquarie perch).〔Jerry ''et al'', (2001)〕 The specific name for Australian bass — ''novemaculeata'' — coined by Steindachner when he scientifically described and named the species, translates literally from the Latin as "new" (''novem'') and "spotted" (''maculeata''), and refers to the distinct black blotches juvenile bass are marked with when very small (i.e. <6–7 cm). Further taxonomic revision may yet see Australian bass and estuary perch moved out of the ''Percichthyidae'' family and into a family of their own. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Australian bass」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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