Macquaria ambigua (Richardson, 1845)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The golden perch (Macquaria ambigua) is a medium-sized, yellow or gold-coloured species of Australian freshwater fish found primarily in the Murray-Darling River system. A subspecies is found in the Lake Eyre-Cooper Creek system, and another subspecies, suspected to be ancestral to all other populations, is found in the Fitzroy River system in Queensland. Other common names for golden perch are "goldens", "yellowbelly" and "callop", the last generally used only in South Australia.
Golden perch are not a true perch, which belongs to the genus Perca from the family Percidae, but a member of the Percichthyidae (temperate perch) family. This relatively widespread and widely stocked species is an important angling sport fish in Australia.
Wikipedia contributors, Golden perch; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:06:30.478907+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Macquaria ambigua (Richardson, 1845)
- Name authority
- (Richardson, 1845)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Centrarchiformes
- Family
- Percichthyidae
- Genus
- Macquaria
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCentrarchiformes
- familyPercichthyidae Jordan & Eigenmann, 1890
- genusMacquaria Cuvier, 1830
- speciesMacquaria ambigua (Richardson, 1845)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Macquaria. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Macquarie perchMacquaria australasica Cuvier, 1830 | PercichthyidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Ctenolates macquariensis Günther, 1871 Günther, 1871 | synonym |
| Dules flavescens Castelnau, 1875 Castelnau, 1875 | synonym |
| Plectoplites ambiguus (Richardson, 1845) (Richardson, 1845) | synonym |
| Plectroplites ambiguus (Richardson, 1845) (Richardson, 1845) | synonym |
| Dules auratus Castelnau, 1872 Castelnau, 1872 | synonym |
| Datnia ambigua Richardson, 1845 Richardson, 1845 | synonym |
| Macquaria ambiguus (Richardson, 1845) (Richardson, 1845) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1020364 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3X24T. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.