HAVE you ever researched the history of a fish? Murray cod is the one that has caught my attention and the more I learn the more I want to know.
Murray cod have undergone an amazing transformation.
In the 1970s fisheries biologists feared the Murray cod was teetering on extinction, but since the mid- to late-1980s, this species has become our most sought inland freshwater fish - at least in warm waters.
Cod are as much a part of Aboriginal legend as of white settler folklore.
This iconic fish was an important food source for Aborigines, explorers and settlers in the Murray Darling Basin, stretching from southern Queensland to Goolwa in South Australia.
Anglers agree that Murray cod are not always an easy fish to find but it can be equally as difficult sorting fact from myth as cod tales do not diminish with time.
A sample of the folklore that comes with Murray cod is the following story from the late Gilbert Whitley, pioneer fish researcher and former curator of fishes at the Australian Museum.
In 1941, Whitley wrote that bushmen explained the tree-like markings on the swim bladder of cod by swearing that the fish takes a photograph of its birthplace and surroundings on the riverbank.
Little has changed; cod tales do not diminish with age.
Like a Tawny Port, they get better with age.
In the early days of white settlement, cod were an abundant species, as noted by explorers' journals.
The first white man to see Murray cod was George Evans, the colony's assistant surveyor.
Evans crossed the Great Dividing Range in 1813 and encountered cod in the Fish and Macquarie rivers near what is now Bathurst.
Evans wrote in his journal that his party "caught and ate many large fish up to 15 pounds" in weight.
"There is game in abundance. If we want a fish, it is caught immediately. They seem to bite at any time ... I am quite astonished at the number the men catch each evening," he wrote.
In 1817, during an expedition to the Lachlan River, John Oxley, wrote: "one man in less than an hour caught 18 large fish, one of which was a curiosity from its immense size and beauty of its colours ... it weighed an entire 70 pounds most of the other fish taken this evening weighed from 15 to 30 pounds each."
For the next 150 years, there was no confusion over Murray cod, the major predator and dominant fish of the northern rivers and Murray Darling Basin.
Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii) was a species on its own until 1972, that is, when realisation dawned that trout cod (Maccullochella macquariensis) was another cod species.
NSW Fisheries biologist Stuart Rowland said that identification of Murray cod had been based on the "type specimen" held at the Paris Museum.
That would have been fine, unless the "Murray cod-type specimen" turned out to be a trout cod, as it did in this case.
Identification changes didn't end there.
In 1979, Rowland started investigating cod from east coast rivers.
The result was two more related cod species: Eastern freshwater cod (Maccullochella ikei) and Mary River cod (Maccullochella peelii mariensis).
Now for some facts or myths.
Most Fisheries documents put the maximum size of Murray cod at 113.6kg (250 pounds), based on a cod caught in the Barwon River near Walgett in 1902.
The Walgett Spectator reported the cod was caught from a waterhole by a couple of bridge builders who used a handmade hook baited with kangaroo meat.
The cod was weighed and hung in a marquee with people charged to look at it, the proceeds went to the local hospital.
As happens, there was a fire in the newspaper office in the 1930s and all records of the paper were destroyed.
The cod story was given credence by Stuart Rowland who said he had interviewed several Walgett residents.
Many years ago, I suspect.
Amateur native fish researcher Will Trueman said the largest cod for which there was physical evidence weighed 150 pounds (68kg) and that Melbourne Museum had a cast of that fish.
"This may not be the biggest cod," Will said.
"I interviewed a commercial fisherman at Swan Hill who told me of a 300 pound (136kg) cod his father caught in the Kerang Lakes."
