Southern smelts and graylings (family Retropinnidae) are small, silvery, schooling fishes of temperate south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. You can access the species account below by clicking on the link in the list of species.
- Prototroctes maraena Günther, 1864 — Australian Grayling
- Retropinna semoni (Weber, 1895) — Australian Smelt
- Retropinna tasmanica McCulloch, 1920 — Tasmanian Smelt
Little has been recorded of the other two species in ANGFA’s sources beyond etymology and distribution notes. The Australian Grayling (Prototroctes maraena — the genus name is Greek for “first trout,” a nod to its salmon-like affinities, while maraena Latinises the German Maräne, whitefish) is a diadromous species listed as Vulnerable, needing unimpeded passage between salt and fresh water to complete its life cycle; before the flooding of Tasmania’s Lake Pedder, its juveniles could be seen schooling around the lake’s shores. Retropinna tasmanica, the Tasmanian Smelt, is named simply for the island it is restricted to, where it lives in fresh, brackish and marine water alike.