There may be no water, but a Walgett man has managed to find one positive to come from the 'bone' dry Barwon River.
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Over the past six weeks, Allan Tighe Snr has taken advantage of the dry riverbed near Walgett and has come across dozens of bones and fossils.
One of his findings was a number of fossilised vertebrae, as big as 50 cent pieces, which archeologists at the University of New England believe belonged to a megafauna lizard, about seven to nine metres long.
However, Mr Tighe's latest discovery has proven even more interesting - an intact skeleton, just under a metre in length, which looks to be some prehistoric fish.
"It was sitting out one end of a waterhole," Mr Tighe said of his find on Wednesday afternoon.
Even more strange is that Mr Tighe believes the skeleton may have been only eight or nine days old.
"It's still got sinew on it," he said.
"I think something killed it."
Mr Tighe said an archeologist at the University of New England believes the skeleton belongs to a rare type of fish that had venom in its spikes.
"I sent a photo to Dr Mark Moore at UNE and he's got a bone specialist, James Roberts looking at it," he said.
"They reckon I've got something super.
"They think it might be a cross between an eel and a catfish. It's weird looking; it looks like a dragon."
Ever since the river has dried up, Mr Tighe has been digging at various sites to see what he can find.
"The archeologist said I've found more bones in six weeks than they have in 34 years," he laughed.
"He said, 'how are you finding so much?' and I told him you've got to look for dark colours, that's how I've spotted everything."
The Moree Champion has attempted to contact UNE's Dr Mark Moore to find out more about this skeleton.
