© 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.

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Bastard Red Cod / Northern Bastard Cod

Family Name:	Moridae
Scientific Name:	Pseudophycis breviuscula (Richardson, 1846)
Recommended Status in S.A:	Data Deficient
Rationale:  Although Pseudophycis breviuscula has a broad geographic range across southern Australia, it is included here because (i) it is a strongly site-associated fish from continental shelf waters, and may thus be susceptible to site-specific impacts in some areas; (ii) its distribution and relative abundance in South Australia are poorly known (likely due to its cryptic nature); (iii) commercial and recreational catches are poorly quantified, and it is likely that P. breviuscula is caught along with P. bachus in some areas, but not separated in catch statistics; it is attracted to rock lobster pots, and capture in pots may be the most significant source of mortality in some areas; (iv) considering the lack of information about population sizes and sustainability of catches, there are inadequate catch restrictions in commercial fisheries; (v) the recreational catch is poorly quantified, and there are no catch restrictions in most States (other than Tasmania);  (vi) there is little information on the biology (particularly longevity, and reproduction), and population dynamics of this species.

Page Contents

Current Conservation Status

No listings known

Distribution

General

Bastard Red Cod is found in New Zealand, the Chatham Islands (Roberts, 1991), and across southern Australia (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994).
In New Zealand, the species is mainly known from the North Island (Francis, 1996), but is also found in the Bay of Plenty and East Cape areas (Roberts and Stewart, 2006).

Southern Australia

Bastard Red Cod is found across southern Australian, from N.S.W. through to southern W.A. (Recherche Archipelago), including Tasmania (Cohen et al., 1990; Kuiter, 1993; Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994; Australian Museum records, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).
The species is less common in the western part of the range (Cohen et al., 1990). In W.A., the species has been recorded rarely at islands in the Recherche Archipelago, and occasionally in mainland bays of south-western Australia (Hutchins, 2005).

South Australia

There are few published records from South Australia. Examples include Goat I. near Ceduna and Anxious Bay (both eastern Great Australian Bight), Spencer Gulf (e.g. seaward of Port Victoria), and Kangaroo Island (Australian Museum records, South Australian Museum records, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).
It is possible that a number of survey records and other records listed as P. bachus, may be P. breviuscula.

Habitat

The Bastard Red Cod is found in both sandy and rocky areas (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994). Kuiter (1993) described the habitat as being “shallow, protected bays; secretive, in rocky reefs”.
In south-western W.A., the species has been recorded in reef habitat and other (soft bottom) habitat (Hutchins, 2005).
The recorded depth range spans the entire continental shelf, from the shallow subtidal (e.g. 4m) to about 220m (Cohen et al., 1990; Gomon , in Gomon et al., 1994), but the species is more common within the depth range 30m – 60m (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994).

Notes on the Biology

Growth

Bastard Red Cod grows to about 22cm (Kuiter, 1993; Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994) or 25cm (Cohen et al., 1990), but is usually seen at small sizes (Cohen et al., 1990).

Diet

Generally, Morid fishes eat small fish, crustaceans and cephalopods (Kuiter, 1996a).

Reproduction

No information on reproduction in P. breviuscula could be found for this report, but it is noted that age at maturity, season of spawning, fecundity and other aspects of reproduction have been investigated in the related species Pseudophycis bachus (see synopsis).

Fisheries Information

Commercial – Southern Australia

Although P. breviuscula is reported to be common on the continental shelf, its relatively small size makes it of little interest to fisheries (Cohen et al., 1990).
P. breviuscula is part of the bycatch in the Commonwealth-managed SESSF (Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fisheries) (AFMA, 2002a).
Bastard Red Cod is a significant component of the bycatch in the N.S.W. Ocean Prawn Trawl Fishery (shelf sector) with a frequency of occurrence of 34% in all trawl shots, according to a fishery independent survey (New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 2004). The species is also part of the bycatch in the Ocean Fish Trawl fishery (with a frequency of occurrence of 11% across all fish trawls in the shelf sector, and 4% in the Wreck Bay and Tathra inshore grounds (New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 2004).
Gomon (in Gomon et al., 1994) reported that the species is often confused with P. bachus; therefore, it is possible that the species is taken in some quantity in those fisheries where P. bachus and P. breviuscula occur in the same habitats, and are vulnerable to the same gear. For example, it is possible that P. breviuscula is part of the bycatch in the South Australian Rock Lobster fishery, but included in the statistics for a related species (i.e. P. bachus, P. barbata or L. rhacina - see synopses).

Commercial – New Zealand

Although P. breviuscula is reported to be common on the continental shelf, its relatively small size makes it of little interest to fisheries (Cohen et al., 1990). It is listed as a commercial species, with a commercial fishing code (BRC) (N.Z. Ministry of Fisheries web site, October, 2006).
Bastard Red Cod is reported to be a bycatch species of commercial gill-netting in New Zealand (Hickford et al., 1997); however, given the size of specimens caught (from 36cm, up to 46cm – 48cm) during a gill-net bycatch study (Hickford et al., 1997), it is possible that the species caught during that study might have been the larger, related red cod P. bachus (see below).

Recreational

The species is likely to be taken occasionally in shallower waters by anglers and spear fishers, but mistaken for P. bachus, or not distinguished in catch records of that species. There are no species-specific catch statistics available for this report.
Catch statistics for Pseudophycis species from Tasmania are listed in the synopsis for P. barbata, and although it is not known what proportion of the catch comprises P. breviuscula. In Tasmania, there is a possession limit of 30 Morid cod, all species combined (Department of Primary Industries and Water web site, October, 2006).

Vulnerable Characteristics of the Species

Adults are site-associated benthic fish and thus may be vulnerable to site-specific impacts in some areas, and also to by-capture in various fishing gear (e.g. trawls, gill-nets and presumably also rock lobster pots).

Threatening Processes

Fishing is likely to be the main threatening process. Pseudophycis breviuscula has been listed as one of the bycatch species in the N.S.W. Ocean Trawl Fishery that has a “high” fishery impact profile (New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 2004). Studies in New South Wales showed that the species suffers barotrauma when hauled in trawls; has low-to-moderate resilience; has a low probability of survival when caught, and P. breviuscula was classified overall as an “intermediate to high risk” species in terms of population impacts from trawl fishing. Threatening processes are not well known in other parts of the range, due to a lack of species-specific data.

Research Requirements

The distribution and relative abundance in some parts of the range (including South Australia) are poorly known (likely due to the cryptic nature of this species).
There is a lack of data on the biology (including longevity and reproduction), and population dynamics of Pseudophycis breviuscula.
Commercial and recreational catches should be quantified (see also below).

Research Notes

During the early 2000s, work was undertaken in south-eastern Australia to determine the proportion of each Pseudophycis species (P. bachus, P. barbata and P. breviuscula) in the diet of Australian Fur seal and Little Penguin, using analyses of otolith shape and otolith microchemistry (e.g. Kemp et al., 2005).

Management Requirements and Notes

Commercial catch statistics for Morid cods should be separated to species level. It is likely that P. breviuscula is listed as P. bachus in a number of fisheries in which it appears in the bycatch (see also Management Requirements for P. barbata and P. bachus).
In eastern Australia, measures should be encouraged to reduce the capture of site-associated reef fishes such as P. breviuscula in prawn trawls, gill nets and other gear. For example, in New South Wales prawn fishery, recent studies have investigated the effects of mesh size, shape, and increases to the lateral mesh openings in cod-ends. In two of the three types of seine used in that prawn fishery, new designs made from 25- and 29-mm mesh hung on the bar (i.e. square-shaped mesh) significantly reduced the catches of non-target fish by between 58 and 95% (Macbeth et al., 2004, 2005; Broadhurst et al., 2004).

Other Information

P. breviuscula has often been confused with P. bachus, in Australian waters (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994).
In New Zealand, divers rarely see this species during the day, but Bastard Red Cod are commonly observed at night swimming close to the bottom (Ayling and Cox, 1982, cited by Cohen et al., 1990).