A number of informal names exist for this species, galaxias, the Western dwarf galaxias, and western mud minnow. The name mud minnow also refers to the family Lepidogalaxiidae, while swan galaxias can refer to either Galaxiella munda or the Galaxias species G. fontanus.
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Galaxiella munda is a species of fish in the family Galaxiidae. It is endemic to inland waters of southwestern Australia, and known as the Western mud minnow. In 1999 the Mud Minnow was not included in the list of threatened species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, but is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
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The species is contained in the class Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish, and is sometimes given the taxonomic placements as Galaxiidae of the order Salmoniformes. It is sometimes named as the mud minnow, long-finned Galaxias, scaled galaxias, or dwarf pencilfish, however mud minnow usually refers to Galaxiella munda. A further list of names refer to L. salamandroides as salamanderfish of Western Australia, West Australian salamanderfish, salamander fish, salmanderfish, and Shannon mudminnow.
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This species has a maximum length of . The Mud Minnow has an elongated scaleless body, a white belly and a grey-brown back. A distinctive broad brown stripe starts from behind the eye and ends tailfins base. The fish has a one-year life-cycle.
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The salamanderfish (Lepidogalaxias salamandroides) is the sole species in the endemic family Lepidogalaxiidae. Salamanderfish can aestivate during the summer months, an adaptation to the region's dry summers. Other endemic species are the nightfish (Bostockia porosa), western mud minnow (Galaxiella munda), black-stripe minnow (Galaxiella nigrostriata), Balston’s pygmy perch (Nannatherina balstoni), western pygmy perch (Nannoperca vittata), and western galaxias (Galaxias occidentalis). Southwest Australian varieties of the diadromous common galaxias (Galaxias maculatus) and spotted galaxias (Galaxias truttaceus) have adapted so they can live their life-cycle and reproduce in fresh water.
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Oyster harbour from lower Kalgan bridge The estuarine end of the Kalgan River is good fishing for many species including black bream with a few skippy, herring, mulloway and whiting. The Kalgan River is renowned as being an excellent place to fish for bream and some of the State's largest bream have been caught in the river. Smaller freshwater species that can be found in the Kalgan River include the western galaxias (Galaxias occidentalis), the common jollytail (Galaxias maculatus), the mud minnow (Galaxiella munda), Balston's pygmy perch (Nannatherina balston), Nightfish (Bostockia porosa) and the western pygmy perch (Edelia vittata). The river is home to a large population of birds.
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The Donnelly is one of the few catchments left in the state that contains all of the region's endemic freshwater fishes. Native freshwater species include salamanderfish (Lepidogalaxias salamandroides), freshwater cobbler (Tandanus bostocki), western minnow (Galaxias occidentalis), western mud minnow (Galaxiella munda), black-stripe minnow (Galaxiella nigrostriata), western pygmy perch (Nannoperca vittata), Balston's pygmy perch (Nannatherina balstoni), nightfish (Bostockia porosa), and pouched lamprey (Geotria australis). Many estuarine fish are found close to the mouth of the river, these include black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri), flathead mullet (Mugil cephalus), yellow-eye mullet (Aldrichetta forsteri), Australian herring (Arripis georgianus), and freshwater cobbler (Tandanus bostocki). Several species have been introduced into the river, including eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki), European perch (Perca fluviatilis), and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).
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