© 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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EMMELICHTHYIDAE: BONNETMOUTHS and ROVERS

© Bernard Yau

The Emmelichthyidae is a small family, currently comprising 3 genera and around 17 named species of marine fish, found mainly in the tropical to warm temperate waters of the Indo-Pacific, southern Pacific, eastern Atlantic, and Caribbean Sea (Froese and Pauly, 2007). Members of the family are known as bonnetmouths, due to their distensible /protrusible jaws and large mouths (Kuiter, in Gomon et al., 1994). Bonnetmouth fishes are usually toothless or nearly so, and other features include a large rostral cartilage; a well-developed supramaxilla; and a scaly maxilla, expanded distally, and not covered by the pre-orbital bone when the mouth is closed (summary by Heemstra, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2006). Most fishes in Emmelichthyidae are demersal, and depth range within the family is from about 100m to 500m.
Emmelichthyids support commercial fisheries throughout their geographic range, being used for human consumption, bait or fishmeal. They are targeted by trawling operations, with the majority of world catch taken by vessels from States formerly in the USSR (Russian Federation, Georgia and Ukraine), South Africa, Australia and New Zealand (Anonymous, 2001 cited by Welsford and Lyle, 2003). Redbait (Emmelichthys nitidus) forms the most significant part of the world catch.
Two of the 3 recognised genera occur in Australian waters, with examples of species occurring in southern Australia including the Redbait Emmelichthys nitidus (widespread, and comprising two sub-species, one of which is found in Australia and New Zealand); the Rubyfish Plagiogeneion macrolepis, which occurs in southern Australia; and a related species of Rubyfish, Plagiogeneion rubiginosum, which has a wider distribution, including south-eastern and southern Australia, New Zealand, and various countries in the Indo-West Pacific and south-east Atlantic.
The Rubyfish P. macrolepis is discussed below, due to its limited distribution within southern Australia, its capture in trawl fisheries, and the potential vulnerability to decline due to its population dynamics. The related species P. rubiginosum is fished by trawl in New Zealand, and also listed as a commercial species in southern Australia (AFFA, 2004d), but is not discussed below because South Australia represents an insignificant part of the species’ broad geographic distribution. The species E. nitidus (Redbait) is also discussed, partly due to the large and increasing quantities that have been taken in southern Australia in recent years, and its potential vulnerability to over-exploitation.    

Associated taxa

Bigscale Rubyfish / Rubyfish	Plagiogeneion macrolepis McCulloch, 1914
Redbait	Emmelichthys nitidus nitidus Richardson, 1845