murray cod

Cod breed during spring floods from August to December, usually in hollow logs on the flooded riverbank. The large eggs are guarded by the male before hatching into 8 - 9 mm fry. These large young cod, which reside in dense bank-side structures, prey on food washing off the productive flood plain. Large numbers of fry are only produced in flood years. In the South Australian section of the Murray, female cod do not necessarily spawn each year. They re-absorb their eggs during non-flood years to give their off-spring the best chance of survival during the best feeding conditions.