Discover

Today
Animals
Explore
Archive
Search

Use it

Classroom
Resources
Field lab
Quiz
Saved

Trust

Methodology
Sources
Corrections
Accessibility
Contributors

Details

About
Contact
Privacy
Terms
Newsletter

Animal profile

Queensland Lungfish

Neoceratodus forsteri

ActinopterygiiSlow, deep pools of a few subtropical Australian rivers, with aquatic vegetationEndangered

Field profile

The Queensland lungfish is a heavy-bodied fish with large scales and flipper-like paired fins, the only surviving member of its family. Unlike African and South American lungfishes it has a single lung and cannot estivate. Adults reach well over a metre.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-02-10

Queensland Lungfish

The Queensland lungfish cannot survive a dry riverbed

Its African and South American relatives burrow through drought inside mucus cocoons. The Queensland lungfish cannot. It has one lung rather than two, functional gills it still depends on, and no estivation behaviour, so a dried pool kills it.

Read with evidence →

Queensland Lungfish | Daily Animal Facts