The Department of the Capital Territory appealed to anyone finding a weather loach, also called a mystery fish, in Lake Burley Griffin to contact them urgently so that the fish could be examined.

The fish that had been found in a fish-sampling trap near the Lake Ecology Laboratory at Kingston, had a large number of mature eggs in it.

A photograph reveals eggs from an weather loach's open belly. The identity of the fish was confirmed by Mr R. McKay, curator of fishes at the Queensland Museum.

The department was concerned that if a population of the fish became established in the lake, it could be difficult to eradicate and, like the European carp, multiply to pest proportions.

The weather loach is a common aquarium fish which originated in Europe, and although it could be imported legally into Australia, it was not wanted in the country's lakes or rivers.

Little was known of its habits, but it was know that it burrowed in sediments looking for food and so could alter the habitat of other fish and animals.

See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126832671