Australian lungfish
Amazing fact
Australian lungfish sense the faint electric fields of hidden prey.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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Australian lungfish sense the faint electric fields of hidden prey.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Australian lungfish
- Scientific name
- Neoceratodus forsteri
- Japanese name
- オーストラリアハイギョ
- Group
- Freshwater animals
- Class
- Dipneusti
- Order
- Ceratodontiformes
- Family
- Neoceratodontidae
- Genus
- Neoceratodus
A lungfish from Australia. It lives in calm, shallow water with lots of water plants.
It has a lung, which it uses when it is active and needs extra oxygen. Its head is wide and flat, and its fins are shaped like paddles.
Adults eat frogs, tadpoles, fish and shrimp, and even flowers that fall from eucalyptus trees.
How the Australian lungfish lives
At night, they move into shallower water. Vibrations from other animals also help them hunt. During the day, they return to a particular part of their habitat to rest.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- 82.5–112.5 cmUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Weight
- up to 48 kgUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Lifespan
- 50–100 years in the wildUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Range
- Australia鳥羽水族館
Where the Australian lungfish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- オーストラリアハイギョ
- 简体中文
- 昆士兰肺鱼
- 繁體中文
- 昆士蘭肺魚
- 한국어
- 오스트레일리아폐어
- Español
- Barramunda
- Français
- Dipneuste d'Australie
- Deutsch
- Australischer Lungenfisch
- Português (Brasil)
- Peixe-pulmonado-australiano
- Italiano
- Barramunda
- العربية
- سمك رئوي كوينزلاندي
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá phổi Queensland
- Русский
- Рогозуб
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Neoceratodus forsteriChecked: 2026-11-03
- 鳥羽水族館 — オーストラリアハイギョChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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