A major Northern Territory highway remains impacted by floodwaters in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Megan, and wow the lasting flooding has triggered a freak phenomenon, causing swarms of fish to swim across the road.
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Alice Springs-based photographer Oliver Eclipse was returning from a family holiday in Queensland, when he spotted the spangled perch on the road.
"It was an amazing experience," he said.
"We were on a 3,500km drive from the coast, with a full car with both my kids, wife and mother-in-law."
Mr Eclipse said his four and nine-year-old children were "freaked out" during deep water crossings along the highway that connects Queensland with the Northern Territory, but had their "eyes wide open" when the fish suddenly started swimming in front of the car.
"It was absolutely incredible," the photographer said.
"It's the first time I've ever seen anything like this.
"(At first) we didn't know what they were, we just saw lots of little black things crossing the road."
Mr Eclipse said the family was amazed when they realised they were watching fish swim across a highway in the middle of the Outback that is normally dusty and dry.
This isn't the first time perch have been spotted in unusual places in the Outback though, with the little fish which belong to the grunter family,
Only in February 2023, residents in the NT community of Lajamanu couldn't believe their eyes when it suddenly started raining fish on the edge of the desert.
At the time, locals said the freak scaly phenomenon occurred during a heavy storm, when fish suddenly tumbled in the air like "rain from the sky".
"We've seen a big storm heading into my community and we thought it was just rain," Central Desert councillor Andrew Johnson Japanangka told the media.
"But it wasn't just rain - it was water and fish coming across our community.
"When the rain started falling, we saw fish falling as well.
"It was the most amazing thing we've ever seen."
The councillor said it wasn't the first time residents in Lajamanu, 560km from Katherine, had witnessed the strange event.
"This is not the first time this happened ... it happened a few times."
Reports show fish fell from the sky in Lajamanu in 2010 and 2004, in a phenomenon caused by strong updrafts over rivers and lakes, according to weather boffins.
The fish, which were the "size of two fingers" are believed to be freshwater spangled perch - dropped from the Outback sky possibly hundreds of kilometres away from their habitat.
In the case of the Barkly Highway fish crossing, the perch are believed to have survived in small desert waterholes, with recent flooding washing them closer to the highway.