© Baker, J.L. (2009) Marine Species of Conservation Concern in South Australia Full citation Baker, J.L. (2009) Marine Species of Conservation Concern in South Australia: Volume 1 - Bony and Cartilaginous Fishes. Report for the South Australian Working Group for Marine Species of Conservation Concern. J. Baker (consultant); Science and Conservation Division, and Coast and Marine Conservation branches of S.A. Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH); Marine and Coastal Community Network of S.A. (MCCN), and Threatened Species Network (TSN). Web version published by Reef Watch, South Australia.

---

BRACHIONICHTHYIDAE: HANDFISHES

Drawing from Waite, 1921. Reproduced by University of Washington Libraries, Freshwater and Marine Image Bank

The Brachionichthyidae is a small family of Australian endemic fishes, most of which are confined to temperate continental shelf waters off Tasmania and Victoria (Last and Gledhill, 2003). More than half of the known species are endemic within Tasmania (Last, in Gomon et al., 1994; Bryant and Jackson, 1999; CSIRO, 2006). Southeastern Australian species include Spotted Handfish (or Spotted-hand Fish) Brachionichthys hirsutus; Red Handfish B. politus; Australian Handfish Brachionichthys sp. 2 (in Last et al., 1983); and Warty Handfish Sympterichthys verrucosus. There are several other species from these two genera for which the taxonomy is uncertain, such as Waterfall Bay Handfish Sympterichthys sp. (CSIRO T1996.01); Ziebell's Handfish Sympterichthys sp. (CSIRO #T6.01); Smooth Handfish S. unipennis (or B. unipennis), and species of Brachionichthys known by some as Loney’s Handfish and Storm Bay Handfish (Pietsch and Kenaley, 2005; Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2005d; Commonwealth of Australia, 2004, 2006; CSIRO, 2006). There may also be species from a currently unnamed genus (Last and Gledhill, 2003). Several unnamed handfish species that appear to be endemic within Tasmania are known only from dredge samples in Bass Strait (unpublished CSIRO data, cited by G. Edgar, 2007).
Characteristic features of fish in the family include arm-like pectoral fins, and three dorsal fin spines, the first forming an illicium (luring apparatus) and the last two spines interconnected by a membrane, to form a fin that is separate from the more posterior, elongate dorsal fin (Last, in Gomon et al., 1994; Kuiter, 2000).
Bryant and Jackson (1999), Pogonoski et al. (2002) and Commonwealth of Australia (2004) provided an account of the Handfishes (family Brachionichthyidae), and pertinent notes are summarised here: Five of the currently eight recognised species have among the narrowest ranges of any of the 4000+ marine fishes of the Australian region, and are potentially at risk due to their small population sizes (Bruce et al., 1998). Although occasionally observed by divers, or collected in dredging or trawling operations, most species have very restricted distributions and their abundances are normally low (Last et al., 1983). Adult and juvenile handfishes are largely sedentary; these shallow-water species are known to have small, distinct and measurable populations over small ranges; they have low fecundity; they rely upon benthic structures for nesting, and have a high degree of parental care of the eggs, fully formed young at hatching (i.e. no larval phase), and poor dispersal capability. Handfishes are slow to expand their range and colonise new areas. The shallow-water species found in estuaries and associated channels are particularly vulnerable to site-specific impacts.
One species, the Spotted Handfish Brachionichthys hirsutus, found mainly in the Derwent estuary in Tasmania, is listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN, 2007) as Critically Endangered, particularly due to the decline in quality of its critical habitat. The Spotted Handfish is listed under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) as Endangered. Impacts and threats include the widespread occurrence of the introduced Northern Pacific Seastar Asterias amurensis (which eats the “sea tulips” - i.e. solitary ascidians - around which many of the Spotted Handfish lay their eggs in the wild); smothering of handfish egg masses by oysters; illegal collecting; sedimentation / siltation and other pollution from urban and industrial developments in the Derwent area, and habitat disturbance by dredging and net fishing (the latter prior to the late 1980s – early 1990s) (Bruce and Green, 1998; Green and Bruce, 2000, 2001; Commonwealth of Australia, 2004; DPIWE Tasmania, 2005f; CSIRO, 2006). The species was considered to be relatively common in local areas up till the 1980s. Following the marked decline in Spotted Handfish observed during surveys the early-mid 1990s, recovery programs have been undertaken in Tasmania during the past decade, with the involvement of CSIRO Marine Research, Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Heritage, Department of Primary Industries, Water and the Environment (DPIWE), the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute (TAFI), the University of Tasmania, the Hobart Ports Corporation, and the Tasmanian Conservation Trust. Recovery efforts included a program to control Northern Pacific Seastar populations; a captive-breeding program for Spotted Handfish; monitoring and restoration of spawning sites, and a program to create artificial nests. Captive-bred individuals have been released back into the Derwent system, but the mortality rate is high (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004). Plastic rods have also been laid out in the estuary, so that Spotted Handfish have an alterative vertical structure around which to lay their eggs, and these plastic rods have been used as nests with some success (CSIRO, 2006). There is, however, concern about oysters settling on the artificial nest structures and smothering the egg masses, and also storms removing these rods from the substrate (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004). In addition to stalked ascidians and plastic rods, the Spotted Handfish also uses seagrasses, sponges, a species of Caulerpa (green macroalga), and polychaete worm tubes as spawning substrates (Spotted Handfish Recovery Team 2002, cited by Commonwealth of Australia, 2004). The recovery team for the Spotted Handfish has transplanted species of Caulerpa into the Derwent, in areas depleted of natural spawning substrate (Green and Coughanowr, 2003; Commonwealth of Australia, 2004).
Another Tasmanian species, the Red Handfish Brachionichthys politus or Sympterichthys politus is listed under the EPBC Act as Vulnerable. B. politus is a shallow-water species found only in south- eastern Tasmania, including bays near Hobart, and off the Tasman Peninsula.  It occurs in mixed sand and rocky reef habitats, to a depth about 20m deep, and appears to rely upon the green macroalga Caulerpa sp. as a spawning substrate (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004). Like other handfish species, B. politus has low egg production and low dispersal rates, which limit the capacity of the species to occupy a larger range, and make it vulnerable to localised population extinction (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004; Australian Government Department of DEH, 2005c).  Two Tasmanian species of Sympterichthys (or two forms of a species in that genus) - the Waterfall Bay Handfish and Ziebell's Handfish - are also listed under the EPBC Act as Vulnerable, and, like other shallow-water Tasmanian handfishes, have geographically restricted ranges, small population sizes, low fecundity, and they rely upon specific habitats for spawning (e.g. in the case of Ziebell’s Handfish: sponges and macroalgae on reef patches, surrounded by sand or other soft bottom). Apart from population impacts due to habitat degradation, all handfish species are believed to be subject to illegal collecting and small-scale illegal trade (Commonwealth of Australia, 2004).
The listings for these four species at State level, under the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995, are identical to the EPBC Act listings (i.e. 1 Endangered, and 3 Vulnerable).
The two handfish species that occur in South Australia have much larger geographic ranges than the endemic Tasmanian species. These southern Australian handfish also have broad depth ranges across the continental shelf, and are thus of less conservation significance than the geographically- and habitat- restricted Tasmanian species. Both are discussed below, due to their strong site association, localised reproduction, capture in trawl fisheries, and lack of information on population sizes or distribution within the range.

Associated taxa

Australian Handfish / Australian Spotted Handfish / Common Handfish	Brachionichthys australis Last, Gledhill and Holmes, 2007
Warty Handfish / Verrucose Handfish	Sympterichthys verrucosus (McCulloch & Waite, 1918) (= Brachionichthys verrucosus)