Dinosaurs fascinated me a kid. I can remember when I was a kid, shortly after moving to Australia from New Zealand, my aunty, always happy to oblige my curiosity of the natural world, brought me to the QLD museum. Looking at the gigantic reconstructions of skeletons and fossils, it was almost impossible for me to comprehend just how these strange animals could ever have existed. At that point in my life, the largest animals I’d seen were horses and cows, and even those were pretty scary for an eight year old.
Amongst the vast amount of life sized reconstructions, assorted oddities and fossilized bones I was eventually drawn to a display about a truly bizarre creature. In fact, prior to its identification in 1870, this species had only been recorded in fossil records estimated to be around 110million years old. Since it’s identification this creature is often referred to as a “Living Fossil”, a rare link to our distant past. This was my introduction to the Queensland Lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, and from there my fascination grew.
It wasn’t until I was in high school that I first got to see a Lungfish in the wild. Exploring a tributary to the Mary River, near Kenilworth, catching small fish for my aquarium and snorkelling to look for whatever could catch my attention, I unexpectedly saw this amazing fish, sitting peacefully on the bottom of the creek. It was a truly magic experience.
Drfiting through time. Parts of the Mary River are only accessable from the water.
Fast forward to 2006. The Queensland Government announced plans to dam the Mary River. With the threat of having one of my favourite places to explore altered forever, I armed myself with a waterproof camera and decided to photograph the elusive Lungfish in its natural habitat and raise awareness for the pending environmental catastrophe.
I can admit that, at that specific task, I failed. These Living Fossils are well camouflaged; they enjoy the deep, dark murky waters and are shy at the best of times. But, despite only capturing a handful of blurry photos, my initial attempts were not a complete failure. While devoting many hours to patiently snorkelling and exploring, camera in hand, I began to notice many more unique creatures that call this area home.
Queensland Lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, the living fossil.
In my first expedition I even photographed a strange looking turtle, it had algae filaments attached to its head and was surprisingly happy to pose for me as I followed it around. It turns out I’d just photographed one of the rarest and most unique turtles on earth, the Mary River Turtle, Elusor macrurus.
The endangered Mary River Turtle, Elusor macrurus.
Due to its striking subject, the photo was picked up and published world wide, it was nick named “The Punk Turtle” and the novelty of the image did more for the cause than any photo of a lungfish could have hoped to achieve.
Thanks to geographical isolation and small pockets of relatively unchanged National Park, the creeks and rainforests of this area are still home to many more endangered and rarely seen animals, some yet to be formally identified. Speciation is still underway with some invertebrates, like the Conondale spiny crayfish (Eustacus hystricosus), showing distinctly different colours and features depending on which of the small creeks they are collected from.
The endangered Conondale Spiny Crayfish, Euastacus hystricosus, juvenile.
I can’t often justify trips away from work to explore further, but when I do get the opportunity I’m never disappointed.
The endangered Giant Barred Frog, Mixophyes iteratus.
The dam was cancelled in 2009, but much of the sensitive environment around there has already been under pressure from logging and agriculture. Unfortunately, some species, like the Gastric-brooding frog, have already become extinct. In a brilliant twist, scientist may soon bring this extinct species back to life by using the rare Giant Barred frog as a surrogate to reanimate some carefully preserved genetics. Although agricultural pressures are subsiding and the timber industry is now far better managed, the urban sprawl of South East Queensland is steadily encroaching on these dwindling habitats. One can only wonder how long it will be before some of these animals will drop the “living” from their nicknames and go back to being found in museums, once again to be referred to simply as “fossils”.
Chris Van Wyk
