LABRIDAE: WRASSES
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| © B. Brayford |
The Labridae is a large family of marine fishes, distributed throughout the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. Labrids are found mainly on the continental shelf, in both tropical and temperate waters. Previously, Parenti and Randall (2000) recognised 68 genera and 453 species of Labrids (wrasses), with an additional 30 undescribed species. An international database of named fish species recognised about 500 species in 2004, and 504 species in 2008 (Froese and Pauly, 2004, 2008). In 2005, Westneat and Alfaro reported 82 genera and about 600 species. The Labridae is the second largest marine fish family, and is one of the most morphologically and ecologically diversified families of fishes in size, shape, and colour (Westneat and Alfaro, 2005). Habits amongst members of the family include sand-burrowing species; carnivorous species that eat benthic invertebrates; planktivorous species; and some small species remove ecto-parasites of larger fishes (Nelson, 1994, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2008).
In Australia, Labrids are the second-most speciose fish family, with 191 species in 46 genera known from Australian waters (Gomon and Russell, in Gomon, 1994; Randall et al., 1997; CSIRO 2008). About 80 species in 31 genera occur in temperate Australian waters (Leis, 2004).
Labrids are diverse in size, shape and colour, and members of the family also vary greatly in size, ranging from 4.5cm to around 2.3m, although many are less than 15cm. Most species swim primarily using the pectoral fins (“labriform” swimming), and specialised dentition is a characteristic of the family. Labrids have a protrusible mouth, and most have teeth that jut outward. Sex reversal is the norm in Labrids, and most species have two or three sex-related colour or body forms. Most species change colour and sex with growth, from an initial phase (IP) of males and females, the latter able to change sex into an often brilliantly coloured terminal male phase (TP). Males dominate several females. All Australian Labrids, so far as is known, spawn small (0.6-1.1 mm diameter) pelagic eggs, with direct development (Leis, 2004).
Commercial Fishing
Wrasses are taken by commercial fishers throughout southern Australian States. A brief summary of wrasse fisheries in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia is provided below. Wrasses are also taken as bycatch in a number of fisheries in southern Australia, such as the Commonwealth’s Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fisheries (SESSF) (AFMA, 2000f; 2002a).In Victoria, wrasses are caught using long lines, mesh nets and fish traps (which yield around 10 percent of the total wrasse catch in Victoria) (SIV, 2003). In recent years, wrasses have been taken in a specialist “live fish” fishery to serve restaurant markets. The commercial catch (in tonnes live weight) of Labrids in recent years is as follows (Table 5).
| Table 1 Commercial Wrasse Catch in Victoria, 1997 to 2005 | ||||||||
| 1997 / 1998 | 1998 / 1999 | 1999 / 2000 | 2000 / 2001 | 2001 / 2002 | 2002 / 2003 | 2003 / 2004 | 2004 / 2005 | |
| Blue-throated Wrasse | 17 | 18 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 10 | 13 |
| Purple (= Saddle) Wrasse | 6 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 2 |
| Unspecified Wrasse | 62 | 64 | 40 | 33 | 36 | 29 | 25 | 25 |
| (Catch figures are tonnes live weight, compiled by NRE Victoria, 2002, 2005) | ||||||||
In Tasmania, wrasse species are an important part of the marine scalefish fishery, and are used for the live fish trade. A specific licence is required for taking wrasse in Tasmania, and the number of licences is limited. Wrasses are taken using fish traps, nets and hand lines. The Tasmanian fishery for wrasse has increased during the past decade (Lyle and Jordan, 1999; DPIWE website, 2003), and the largest catches were taken during the mid 1990s, prior to revised management arrangements for the fishery. As is the case for Victoria, the majority of the commercial catch in Tasmania is Blue-throated Wrasse Notolabrus tetricus and Purple Wrasse N. fucicola. In Tasmania, the wrasse fishery is thought to be fully fished in the east and south east; however the stock assessment is inconclusive (DPIWE website, 2003). In 2001-2002, the commercial catch of Wrasses in Tasmania was at least 90t (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005). There is also a large annual catch of wrasses in the Tasmanian Rock Lobster fishery. A study by Frusher and Gibson (1998) suggested that there is some regional and depth variation in catch rates of wrasses in this fishery, and that the potential harvest of wrasse from rock lobster pots is only slightly less than the targeted commercial catch. Frusher and Gibson (1998, cited by Environment Australia, 2001) concluded that that "bycatch of commercial finfish species is significant, relative to volumes harvested by targeted fishing". Wrasses are listed among the top 5 fish species / groups that suffer catch and release mortality by line fishing in Tasmania (Macleay et al., 2002).The figure below shows the commercial catch between 1990 and 2002, based on fishing returns and logbooks (Figure 2).
| Figure 1 Commercial Catch of Wrasse in Tasmanian Waters 1990 – 2002. |
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| (General Fishing Returns and Commonwealth GN01, GN01A and SSJF logbook returns; DPIWE statistics, 2002; ABS, 2006) |
In South Australia, commercial fishing for wrasses has traditiionally occurred across the State. Examples of locations include south-western Spencer Gulf / Thorny Passage area (a major commercial fishing area for wrasse species); south-eastern Spencer Gulf / Hardwicke Bay area; mid-west coast waters, such as the area seaward of Elliston (a major area for commercial fishing of wrasses); areas seaward of the bays along the far west coast, including the inner islands of the Nuyts Archipelago, and locations along the upper- and mid- western Eyre Peninsula (e.g. seaward of Baird Bay, Cape Radstock / Calca Peninsula area, where minor quantities are taken); deeper waters west of Coffin Bay on the west coast; Coffin Bay National Park coast, Avoid Bay, the Avoid Bay isles, and other locations off the southern tip of Eyre Peninsula; Wedge Island region and surrounding waters south of Spencer Gulf and north-west of Kangaroo Island; Investigator Strait, particularly western Investigator Strait / north-western Kangaroo Island; the mid to lower South-East (e.g. from Beachport to Port MacDonnell and further east to the Victorian border, which is one of the major commercial fishing areas for wrasse in S.A.); deeper waters off southern and south-eastern Kangaroo Island, and west of the Robe to Beachport area, in the south-east (S.A. commercial scalefish fisheries data, 1995-1997). Commercial wrasse catches for South Australia are presented below. These figures are graphed in one of the synopses below, for Blue-throated Wrasse, which comprises the majority of the wrasse catch in the South Australian fishery (Table 6).
| Table 2 Commercial Wrasse Catch and Effort in South Australia, 1984/85 to 2005/06 | ||
| Year | Yield (t) | Target effort (000’s person days) |
| 1984/85 | 7 | 0.03 |
| 1985/86 | 6 | 0.09 |
| 1986/87 | 10 | 0.08 |
| 1987/88 | 11 | 0.04 |
| 1988/89 | 13 | 0.03 |
| 1989/90 | 11 | 0.08 |
| 1990/91 | 9 | 0.05 |
| 1991/92 | 9 | 0 |
| 1992/93 | 13 | 0.15 |
| 1993/94 | 17 | 0.06 |
| 1994/95 | 22 | 0.09 |
| 1995/96 | 30 | 0.17 |
| 1996/97 | 26 | 0.09 |
| 1997/98 | 47 | 0.41 |
| 1998/99 | 47 | 0.34 |
| 1999/00 | 40 | 0.35 |
| 2000/01 | 20 | 0.27 |
| 2001/02 | 24 | 0.3 |
| 2002/03 | 27 | 0.45 |
| 2003/04 | 22 | 0.3 |
| 2004/05 | 24 | ~0.3 |
| 2005/06 | 18 | 0.21 |
| (Knight et al., 2002, 2007; SARDI Aquatic Sciences data, 2003-2006) | ||
Wrasses are also part of the bycatch in the South Australian Rock Lobster Fishery (Sloan, 2003a). Prescott and Xiao (2001) reported that, in terms of numbers caught, wrasses (Labridae) were the second largest group of bycatch species (after Leatherjacket species) in the Northern Zone Rock Lobster fishery in South Australia, according to a sampling of 32,000 pots in 1991 – 1992. During that period, 1127 Labrids were caught in pots during the bycatch sampling program, of which 177 fish were Blue-throated Wrasse, 10 were Blue Groper, and 938 were unspecified species "in the Labridae family". For the Southern Zone (21,000 pots sampled), 205 Labrids were reportedly caught during the 1991-92 season (Prescott and Xiao, 2001). During a more recent survey of bycatch in the S.A. Rock Lobster Fishery (Brock et al., 2004), wrasses, in particular Blue-throated Wrasse N. tetricus, were some of the most commonly caught bycatch species in both the Northern and Southern Zone. Bycatch data for Blue-throated wrasse (and “unspecified wrasses”, the majority of which may also be Blue-throated Wrasse) are provided below in the synopsis for that species.
In Western Australia, the commercial catch of unspecified wrasses is shown in the table below. These figures do not include Western Blue Groper (see synopsis in this publication), Baldchin Groper and other Choerodon species, and Western Foxfish (see synopsis), for which separate statistics are collated. Baldchin Groper and several other species of Choerodon are commercially and recreationally significant species in W.A., but are not discussed here because they do not occur in South Australian waters. In W.A., the annual catch of unspecified wrasse species increased throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, to nearly 9t in 2003/04 (Table 7).
| Table 3 Reported Catches of Unspecified Wrasses* from W.A. waters, 1998-99 to 2005-06 | |
| Year | Live weight (kg) |
| 1998/99 | 1,246 |
| 1999/00 | 204 |
| 2000/01 | 1,657 |
| 2001/02 | 5,358 |
| 2002/03 | 7,876 |
| 2003/04 | 8,886 |
| 2004/05 | 10,946 |
| 2005/06 | 5,717 |
| W.A. Fisheries Research Services Division statistics 1994-2001, extracted from W.A. Fisheries web site (2003) and W.A. State of the Fisheries reports, 2000/01 - 2006/07). (N.B. Does not include Western Blue Groper, Baldchin Groper, Bluebone Tuskfish, or Western Foxfish) | |
Wrasses are also part of the bycatch in a number of fisheries in W.A., such as the W.A. temperate shark fishery (Simpfendorfer and Donohue, 1998).
Recreational Fishing
Medium to large Labrids are important food fishes, and popular catches for recreational fishers. The National Recreational and Indigenous Fishing Survey (Henry and Lyle, 2003) estimated that 310,009 Wrasses (unspecified species) were caught and kept by recreational fishers in Australia during the survey time period (May 2000 to April 2001), including 67,556 from N.S.W., 63,057 from Victoria; about 64,199 from South Australia (SARDI data, 2005); 82,487 from Western Australia; and 25,298 from Tasmania. An additional 519 wrasses (listed as “other wrasses”) were also caught in W.A. Figures for catches from Queensland and Northern Territory are not provided here, because this report discusses species found in southern Australia).In Tasmania, the total wrasse catch in the recreational fishery is unknown, but the catch by gillnets is around 5t per annum (DPIWE Tasmania web site, 2002). Between the period December 1996 and April 1998, 10t of wrasses were reported to have been taken by recreational gillnets, slightly over one third of the commercial catch during that period (RPDC, 2005). Wrasses (mostly Purple Wrasse and Blue-throated Wrasse) are taken by recreational fishers in Tasmania waters, using lines and “graball” nets. Many of the wrasses that are taken are used as rock lobster bait. The legal minimum size for wrasse taken in Tasmania is 30cm. Previously there was a daily bag limit of 30 wrasse, and a possession limit of 45 (DPIWE Tasmania, 2003b); however as from November 30th, 2004, the bag limit was replaced by a personal possession limit of 10 wrasse (DPIWE web site, January, 2005).
In Victoria, there are no minimum legal sizes, except for Blue-throated Wrasse (28cm). For all species taken by recreational fishers in Victorian waters, there is a total bag limit / possession limit of 5 wrasse (comprising one or more species) (DPI Victoria web site, 2004). The number of wrasse caught and discarded by recreational fishers in Victoria is likely to be significantly higher than that retained, as wrasses are often caught by recreational fishers as bycatch. Survival rates of wrasse discarded by boat- based recreational fishers are unknown, but thought to be lower than that by shore-based fishers, due to anecdotal evidence suggesting that air is not always removed from swim bladders before wrasse from deeper water are returned to the sea. The proportion of boat-based recreational fishers who catch wrasse is thought to be small in comparison to shore-based fishers (Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, 2004).
In South Australia, wrasses are taken throughout the State by recreational and charter boat fishers. Some examples of locations including Ceduna, Streaky Bay, Cape Bauer, Olive Island, deeper waters seaward of Baird Bay, Cape Radstock / Calca Peninsula, Elliston (a popular area for wrasse fishing, according to a recent national recreational fishing survey), Coffin Bay, Port Lincoln, Tumby Bay (an area where wrasse species are taken in abundance, according to the results of a recent national recreational fishing survey), Cowell, Port Broughton, Wallaroo, Hardwicke Bay, Stenhouse Bay and Marion Bay (also popular areas for recreational fishers taking wrasse species), Edithburgh, Port Vincent, Coastal Adelaide, Cape Jervis, Northern Kangaroo Island, Robe area, coastal waters off Mount Gambier, and other sites in the South-East (Capel, 1994; NRIFS results, May 2000 to April 2001; Fishnet, 2002). Knight et al. (2008) reported that 369 wrasses ("parrotfish") were caught and retained by charter fishers in S.A. during the period September 2005 to June 2006, and 356 were retained from July 2006 to June 2007. During a National Recreational and Indigenous Fishing Survey between May 2000 and April 2001, a total of 64,199 wrasses was estimated to have been taken in S.A. (SARDI data, September, 2005), which would include species such as N. tetricus, N. parilus, A. gouldii, O. lineolatus, and P. laticlavius, amongst others.
In Western Australia, recreational fishers take wrasse species such as Western Blue Groper (popular for boat-based fishers along the South Coast region, and also charter boat fishing), Brown-spotted Wrasse and Western Foxfish, all three of which are discussed below, in the synopses for those species. Some of the most popular wrasses taken recreationally in W.A. are the Baldchin Groper Choerodon rubescens and the other Choerodon species, which do not occur in South Australia. A survey in the West coast region of W.A. (Augusta to Kalbarri) in 1997 showed that about 66,000 “wrasses and gropers” were taken by recreational fishers in that region, during the survey period (Sumner and Williamson, 1999). Choerodon species are also popular target species in the Gascoyne region further, and there has recently been a review of minimum legal sizes for these species (Department of Fisheries, W.A., 2005c), based on research into size at maturity, sex change, and other population parameters (Fairclough et al., 2004; Fairclough, 2005).
The wrasses found in South Australia are discussed below. Smaller, usually non-targeted, and relatively abundant wrasses, such as Dotalabrus aurantiacus (Castelnau’s Wrasse), and Austrolabrus maculatus (Black-spotted Wrasse) are of less conservation concern than the large, long-lived, edible species that are fished. However, it is noted that all wrasses have some life history characteristics that increase their vulnerability to population decline.
Associated taxa
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