© 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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Javelin Pipefish

Family Name:	Syngnathidae
Scientific Name:	Lissocampus runa (Whitley, 1931)
Recommended Status in S.A:	Data Deficient
Rationale:  Although the Javelin Pipefish has a broad geographic distribution, it is included here because (i) it is a species of syngnathid, from a family whose members are considered to have vulnerable population characteristics; (ii) it has been found to date within a limited depth range (mostly less than 10m); (iii) in some areas, impacts on nearshore habitats (including dredging, netting, effluent discharge and sedimentation, and coastal developments, amongst others) could adversely affect populations of Javelin Pipefish, but there is no species-specific information; and (iv) very little is known of the biology (including longevity, reproduction etc) and ecology of this species.

Page Contents

Current Conservation Status

All syngnathids are listed as Protected Aquatic Biota in Victoria
Protected from capture in N.S.W., from July 1^st, 2004
Protected under the South Australian Fisheries Act 1982
The Tasmanian Living Marine Resources Management Act 1995 prohibits the take of all syngnathids in Tasmania (by non-permit holders, since Sep 1994).
All syngnathids are subject to the export controls of the Commonwealth Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1982 from 1 January 1998.
All syngnathids and solenostomids are listed marine species under s248 of the EPBC Act 1999
Since January 2006, fishes in the Syngnathidae (seadragons, pipefish, pipehorses) have been formally protected in South Australia, under the Fisheries (General) Variation Regulations 2006 of the South Australian Fisheries Act.
 

Distribution

Southern Australia

Widespread along Australia’s south coast, and known from N.S.W. (from where there are numerous published records); northern Tasmania and Flinders Island / Bass Strait region; Victoria; South Australia; and southern Western Australia (Dawson, 1985, and in Gomon et al., 1994; Kuiter, 2000; Butler et al., 2002a, 2002b; Hutchins, 2005; OZCAM database records, 2007).
There is one unverified record from Queensland (Australian Museum record, 1993, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).
 

South Australia

The species has been recorded from coastal waters across S.A., ranging from the Great Australian Bight through to the South-East of South Australia. Examples of locations where the species has been recorded include Sceale Bay and the Baird Bay / Searcy Bay area and Venus Bay / Anxious Bay area in western Eyre Peninsula / eastern Great Australian Bight; Coffin Bay area on lower Eyre Peninsula; northern Spencer Gulf (e.g. Port Augusta area, according to an Australian Museum record); eastern Spencer Gulf (e.g. Tiparra, Wallaroo area, and north-west of Wardang Island); western Gulf St Vincent (e.g. Port Julia); bottom end of Fleurieu Peninsula (e.g. Cape Jervis); Encounter Bay; northern Kangaroo Island; southern Kangaroo Island (e.g. Vivonne Bay area), and south-western Kangaroo Island, and the mid South-East of S.A. (e.g. Kingston / Lacepede Bay area) (Glover, 1979; Kuiter, 2000; S.A. Museum records, Museum of Victoria records, Australian Museum records, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).
 

Habitat

Recorded from shallow coastal fringing reefs, rubble habitat with short macroalgae, as well as Zostera seagrass beds, and in tide pools / rock pools (Dawson, 1985, and in Gomon et al., 1994; Kuiter, 2000; Silberschneider and Booth, 2000; Museum of Victoria records, cited in OZCAM database, 2007).
There are also records from unvegetated sand habitat, and from seagrass beds at sites in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria (Hindell et al., 2001). 
It is noted that in South Australia, Javelin Pipefish has been recorded from areas which differ considerably in oceanography, including water temperature, wave exposure and salinity. Examples of extremes include far northern Spencer Gulf, compared with south-western Kangaroo Island, and the mid south-east coast of S.A., and the species has reportedly been recorded in all of these areas (Australian Museum records, cited in OZCAM database, 2007). 
In south-western Australia, surveys have recorded the species rarely on reefs at the Recherche Archipelago, and in mainland bays, and Israelite Bay (Hutchins, 2005)
The species has also been recorded in estuaries in south-western W.A. (e.g. Loneragan et al., 1989; Potter et al., 1990) and in N.S.W. (Trnski, 2001).
Most records are from less than 5m (occasionally as shallow as 1m), but published maximum depth is 18m (according to the depth range of specimens known to date) (Kuiter, 2000; Australian Museum records, cited by New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 2004).
 

Notes on the Biology

L. runa reaches a maximum size of around 9.5 - 10cm (Dawson, 1985, and in Gomon et al., 1994; Silberschneider and  Booth, 2000, Kuiter, 2000, 2003).
Males brood eggs in a pouch on the underside of the body anterior to the anal fin, and males may be brooding at 6.9 cm SL (Dawson, 1985).
 

Vulnerable Characteristics of the Species, and Threatening Processes

Many of the life history characteristics of syngnathids make them susceptible to impacts, and vulnerable to population decline. Such characteristics include low population densities; strong habitat association; small home range sizes and low mobility; possible low rates of natural adult mortality (due to low levels of predation, hence human-induced mortality may disrupt population dynamics); monogamy and localised reproduction; aggregation (in some species) for feeding and/or breeding; small brood sizes, and strong association between adults and young.
Impacts on nearshore habitats (such as dredging, netting, effluent discharge, sedimentation, and coastal developments) could adversely affect populations of Javelin Pipefish, but there is no species-specific information.
In a draft ecological risk assessment, L. runa was assessed as being at “medium risk” of population impacts from operation of the Danish seine sub-fishery of the South East Trawl Fishery (Wayte et al., 2004). However, there is no information available on the presence of this species in bycatch of the SETF (e.g. Knuckey et al., 2002; Knuckey and Berrie, 2002; Wayte et al., 2004), and, given the currently known habitat and depth range of this species, the incidence of capture is likely to be very low, if at all.  Similarly, in a draft ecological risk assessment for the Gillnet, Hook and Trap Fishery (Webb et al., 2004), L. runa was ranked as being at “medium” risk of population impact from the operation of each of the following sectors: the southern shark gillnet sub-fishery, southern shark demersal long-line sub-fishery, scalefish demersal long-line sub-fishery, scalefish automatic long-lining sub-fishery, and scalefish drop-line sub-fishery. Despite these listings, bycatch data are not available for the fishery (e.g. Knuckey et al., 2001; Webb et al., 2004), and, given the currently known habitat and depth range, the frequency of capture is likely to be very low, if at all.

Research Requirements

Although there is a considerable number of single specimen records of this species from South Australia, many of the records (e.g. Australian Museum, S.A. Museum) are from the 1970s and 1980s, and surveys are required to better determine the current distribution, relative abundance, habitat requirements, biology and ecology of this species over the range, including South Australia.  
 

Management Requirements

Generally, protection from degradation is required for nearshore seagrass, rubble sand reef habitats.
Where the species is present in the bycatch of coastal fisheries (e.g. prawn trawl bycatch), such information should be recorded over space and time, and methods to reduce the bycatch of syngnathid fishes should be adopted where possible. 
 
 

Other Information

The species is considered common in some of the shallow sheltered bays within its range (Dawson, in Gomon et al., 1994).
In draft ecological risk assessments, L. runa was assessed as being at “low risk” of population impacts from operation of the otter trawl sub-fishery of the South East Trawl Fishery (Wayte et al., 2004), the Great Australian Bight Trawl fishery (Daley et al., 2006), and the Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery (AFMA, 2006d).