© 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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Crested Bellowsfish

Family Name:	Macroramphosidae
Scientific Name:	Notopogon lilliei Regan, 1914
Recommended Status in S.A:	(i) Least Concern in S.A. waters; (ii) Data Deficient, possibly Least Concern in Commonwealth waters of south-eastern Australia
Rationale:  Although the Crested Bellowsfish has a broad geographic distribution and depth range, it is included here because (i) members of the snipefish family likely play an important ecological role, due to their natural abundance, diet, and consumption by a wide variety of predators; (ii) N. lilliei is vulnerable to capture by trawl and other gear, and is a minor discarded bycatch in a number of Commonwealth-managed fisheries, such as the South East Trawl Fishery and the Small Pelagic Fishery; (iii) in a draft risk assessment for the SETF, the species has been listed as “medium risk” in terms of population impacts from trawl capture; and (iv) there is little information about the biology (such as fecundity, annual recruitment strength, and longevity), population dynamics, or relative abundance of this species in southern Australian waters. The species is listed here as Least Concern in S.A. waters because the main part of the depth range is not in State-managed continental shelf waters, but in deeper Commonwealth-managed waters, as are the main threatening processes. In the latter area, bycatch appears to be low, relative to that of some other species in the family, but this may reflect naturally lower abundance of N. lilliei in the fished depth range (outer shelf and upper slope) compared with other snipefish and bellowsfish species for which southern Australia is part of the geographic distribution.

Page Contents

Current Conservation Status

No listings known

Distribution

General

N. lilliei is known from off Australia and New Zealand (Stewart and Roberts, 2004), South Africa (Heemstra, 1986), and from the Tristan da Cuhna Group and Gough Island in the South Atlantic (Andrew et al., 1995).

Southern Australia

Museum records in Australia come from off northern and central New South Wales, Victoria, and the Tasmanian region, including southern Tasmania, and the islands in Bass Strait (Australian Museum records, Museum of Victoria records, CSIRO Marine Research records, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).

South Australia

It is noted that there are no museum specimens of this species from South Australia (OZCAM database, 2007), although Heemstra (1986, cited by Andrew et al., 1995) listed “South Australia” as part of the distribution of this species, and Paxton et al. (1989) included the Great Australian Bight as part of the southern Australian distribution of N. lilliei. Notopogon lilliei is listed in Regulations under the Fisheries Act 1982 as a native species in South Australia.

Habitat

The Crested Bellowsfish is found in continental shelf and slope waters, often near the bottom. In Australia, specimens have been recorded between approximately 54m and 446m deep, but most specimens have come from the depth range 100m – 325m (CSIRO et al., 2001). The relatively shallow record (54m) in southern Australia was a specimen collected in 1991 from off Port Arthur, in southern Tasmania (CSIRO Marine Research record, in the Australian National Fish Collection, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).
The species has been recorded from seamounts (e.g. Froese and Sampang, 2004).

Notes on the Biology

Growth

The Crested Bellowsfish grows to about 26cm or 27cm (May and Maxwell, 1986; Stewart and Roberts, 2004).

Diet

Closely related members of the family eat benthic invertebrates and zooplankton (Ayling and Cox, 1982; Heemstra, 1995; Nelson, 2006).

Reproduction

Species in the family are oviparous, with planktonic eggs and larvae (Watson, 1996, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2007).

Other Information

At the Tristan da Cuhna group and Gough I., N. lilliei is sometimes found washed up on beaches after storms, and it is presumed that specimens found in the stomachs of black-browed albatross (Diomedea melanophris) are scavenged from beaches (Andrew et al., 1995).
N. lilliei is eaten by the predatory fish Hapuku / Hapuka Polyprion oxygeneios (Andrew et al., 1995).

Fisheries Information

Crested Bellowsfish is listed as one of the bycatch species in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fisheries (SESSF) (AFMA, 2002a). According to AFMA (2002a), bycatch sampling during an Integrated Scientific Monitoring Program (ISMP) in 2001, showed that 14kg of N. lilliei was caught in the South East Trawl Fishery, and all was discarded (AFMA, 2002a). Wayte et al. (2004) reported that in the otter trawl sub-fishery of the SETF, the ISMP recorded about 244 kg of Crested Bellowsfish discarded in 43 trawl shots.
The species is a minor component of the bycatch in the Commonwealth-managed Small Pelagic Fishery, observed in less than 5% of shots (AFMA, 2003h, 2005).

Vulnerable Characteristics of the Species and Threatening Processes

Fishing may be a threatening process to N. lilliei populations, but there are insufficient data. It is noted that species in the family are reported to suffer barotrauma when caught in trawl bycatch, and have low resilience and high catchability, and therefore are of moderate to high risk of population impacts from trawl capture (e.g. N.S.W. Department of Primary Industries, 2004).
In a draft ecological risk assessment for the South East Trawl Fishery, N. lilliei was listed as being at “medium risk” of population impacts from bycatch in that fishery (Wayte et al., 2004).

Other Information

Given the abundance and trophic level of snipefishes and bellowsfishes (i.e. they consume numerous types of invertebrates, as well as small fishes, and are in turn consumed by higher order predatory fishes, sharks, dolphins, sea birds and other fauna), these fishes likely play an important ecological role in food webs in continental shelf and slope waters wherever they are found, including southern Australia.