Hmmm. Yes, they are. But Redmap is built on the idea of tracking new or unusual species to an area. Generally this doesn’t include invasive species - which is a whole other ‘kettle of fish (although there are a few exceptions on the site). Redmap includes (or highlights) species that are potentially changing their distribution. There are also a number of species listed here that scientists don’t necessarily think are changing range – but since there’s little information on their actual movements, they’re included to fill knowledge gaps and better define distributions – so these are what we’re labelling “species of interest”.

For example, warty prowfish (Aetapcus maculatus; pictured) have a distribution along southern Australia and down to northern Tasmania. But scientists in Victoria would like more information on this species – even within its known range – so we’re asking you to log it inside its known distribution.

There are many reasons why there is still only limited information on some of our “species of interest”.  Perhaps they are camouflaged, like the prowfish and it is hard to get any information on their habits; they might be not well studied or be migratory and hard to gather information on. Either way, Redmap can help collect important distribution and movement information on these hard-to-study species.