Mogurnda adspersa (commonly known as the southern purple-spotted gudgeon) is a species of endangered gudgeon that is endemic to south-eastern mainland Australia (the states of South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria and Queensland).

[6] The southern purple-spotted gudgeon is endemic to southeastern Australia, particularly the Murray-Darling basin and coastal drainages northeast of the Clarence River.

[4][5] During the breeding season, which generally spans from November to March, the female fish lays multiple batches of 30–1,300 eggs.

[11] The population plunged during the 2009–2010 drought, again threatening local extinction, but its continued existence in the area was ensured by a captive breeding program at Urrbrae Agricultural High School, Alberton Primary School and Nature Glenelg Trust's Berri site.

[12] In an effort to increase the fish's abundance, the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries instituted a captive-breeding program, in hopes of eventually releasing the more "genetically variable" fish into the wild, where they can reproduce with the remaining wild populations and recover from their previous population decline by "recover[ing] genetic variation".

Some of the fish were being taken to breeders to help increase the population in the Kerang lakes area and the Murray.