Australia country information

Common names: Australian spotted handfish
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Type locality of Brachionichthys australis, E of Disaster Bay, New South Wales, 125 m, CSIRO H 4451-02, holotype of Brachionichthys australis, 4.59 cm SL). A demersal fish known off the southern and eastern coastlines of Australia; mainly continental shelf from Bermagui, New South Wales (36° 23′ S, 150° 15′ E), to Middini Beach in the Great Australian Bight, Western Australia (33° 17′ S, 127° 31′ E). Southward along the east coast of Tasmania to the D’Entrecasteaux Channel (near 43° 03′ S, 147° 20′ E); but not yet recorded from Tasmania’s west coast. Found from depths of 18 m to at least 210 m, commonly ca. 40-150 m depth, but may occur deeper. A specimen was caught by a trawler fishing in 123-277 m, but the depth of capture cannot be determined (Ref. 72490).
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://www.csiro.au/
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Last, P.R., D.C .Gledhill and B.H. Holmes, 2007
National Database:

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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Lophiiformes (Anglerfishes) > Brachionichthyidae (Handfishes)
Etymology: Brachionichthys: Latin, bracchium = arm + Greek, ichthys = fish (Ref. 45335); australis: Name from Latin word 'australis' meaning southern; refers to its wide southern Australian distribution..
More on authors: Last, Gledhill & Holmes.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 18 - 277 m (Ref. 72490), usually 40 - 150 m (Ref. 72490). Subtropical; 33°S - 43°S, 128°E - 150°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Southern Indian to Pacific: Australia.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 6.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 82446)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal soft rays (total): 18-20; Anal soft rays: 8 - 11. This species possess the following set of characters: esca small, 8-24% (mean 14%) of illicium length (including esca); illicium elongate, no dermal spinules, length 23-28% SL, 1.8-2.1 times in head length; eye large, mainly less than 5.4 times in head; body entirely covered with close-set, non-imbricate scales; scale bases subcircular with long unicuspid spinules (except for those closely associated with pores of the acoustico-lateralis system); spinules originating from middle of scale base, variable in length over body; second dorsal-fin rays 16-18 (mean 17), fin base 55-61% (mean 58%) SL; length of first ray of first dorsal fin 1.1-1.4 times length of longest ray of second dorsal fin; anal-fin rays usually 9-10; pectoral-fin rays 7; upper body lightly covered with longitudinal streak-like markings not spots; caudal fin with sparse coverage of large dark spots, not forming a broad submarginal bar (Ref. 72490).

This species is recorded from depths of 18 m to at least 210 m, commonly at about 40-150 m depth, but may occur deeper; one specimen was taken by a trawler fishing in 123-277 m, but the depth of capture cannot be determined. Newly hatched young and egg capsule diameter unknown; egg diameter 1.7-1.9 mm (Ref. 72490).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Last, P.R., D.C .Gledhill and B.H. Holmes, 2007. A new handfish, Brachionichthys australis sp. nov. (Lophiiformes: Brachionichthyidae), with a redescription of the critically endangered spotted handfish, B. hirsutus (Lacepède). Zootaxa 1666:53-68. (Ref. 72490)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 30 April 2018

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

FAO(Publication : search) | FishSource |

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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 13.9 - 16.4, mean 14.7 (based on 77 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.7501 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00389 (0.00180 - 0.00842), b=3.12 (2.94 - 3.30), in cm Total Length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.6 ±0.6 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Brachionichthys australis Last, Gledhill & Holmes, 2007