Available both wild-caught and farmed, it is caught using gillnets in coastal and fresh waters in Australia’s tropical north, from the Ashburton River in WA to the Noosa River in Queensland. It lives in rivers, creeks, estuaries and coastal shallows, however all move into estuaries and coastal shallows to breed. NT, WA and QLD are important barramundi farming areas, though there are also farms in NSW and SA.
Farms located further south than Barramundi naturally occur use warm saline bore water to simulate the fish’s natural habitat and most farms use salt, rather than fresh, water. Barramundi is an Aboriginal word meaning 'river fish with large scales'.