In some parts of New South Wales however they were also known as trout cod, and this common name was adopted when the species status of the fish was finally confirmed by genetic studies in the early 1970s.

Trout cod have been reliably recorded to at least 80 cm and 16 kg, but there are some credible anecdotal accounts of larger specimens.

Trout cod are a small to medium groper-like fish with a deep, elongated body that is round in cross section.

Therefore, the trout cod's main habitats were the larger upland rivers and creeks, which they usually co-inhabited with Macquarie perch and one or both of the blackfish species.

Division into specialist upland and primarily lowland species is a relatively common phenomena in native fish genera of the Murray-Darling and East Coast systems with other notable pairs shown in the following table: Trout cod are often found close to cover and in faster currents and in cooler waters than Murray cod.

Their diet is essentially the same as Murray cod with adjustment made for size, eating mainly other fishes, freshwater mussels, crustaceans, aquatic insects, small mammals and water fowl.

However, recent anecdotal evidence suggests terrestrial insects made up a significant proportion of the trout cod's diet in upland rivers and streams.

In the surviving Murray River population trout cod tend to stick to areas of deep water near banks, around snags, rocks or other large structure.

Generally speaking, radio-tracked trout cod in the surviving Murray River population have small home ranges and may be a species which does not move away from their original base, except during the breeding season when they follow a common trend in Murray-Darling fish of migrating upstream prior to spawning.

Trout cod are carnivores and feed on other fish, crustaceans (such as crayfish, yabbies and freshwater shrimp) as well as aquatic and terrestrial insects.

It is believed to be essentially the same as Murray cod but occurs about three weeks earlier and at significantly lower temperatures in waters shared by the two species.

Artificial breeding programs being conducted for the species recovery use hormone injections to induce ovulation in naturally ripe fish in spring.

He had fished the Indi before he left and it carried a great number of blue nose [trout cod], white eye [Macquarie perch] and greasies [blackfish].

To my mind, this man did do something remarkable, he had set a very positive timeframe of a change over of fish species in the Indi River.

A semi-natural population exists in a stretch of the very small upland Seven Creeks, which was established by translocations of trout cod (and Macquarie perch) above a set of falls in the 1920s.