© 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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Little Pineapple Fish / Little Pineapplefish

Family Name:	Trachichthyidae
Scientific Name:	Sorosichthys ananassa Whitley, 1945
Recommended Status in S.A:	Rare E(i)
Rationale:  The species is included here because (i) the Little Pineapple Fish is found mainly in W.A., and in S.A. it is known from few records in the western Great Australian Bight, and one record from southern Spencer Gulf; (ii) the full depth range and habitat are not recorded; very little is known of the biology of this species; and there is no knowledge of population sizes or population dynamics. The classification of Rare is suggested until surveys can verify the presence, and determine the distribution, of this species in South Australia.

Page Contents

Current Conservation Status

No listings known

Distribution

The Little Pineapple Fish is known so far from Western Australia; far western South Australia (with trawl records indicating its presence in the Great Australian Bight: May and Maxwell, 1986; J. Moore, Florida Atlantic University, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2007; B. Hutchins, W.A. Museum, pers. comm., 2007), and one record from Spencer Gulf (Currie and Sorokin, 2010).
A site east of Albany in W.A. is the type locality for Little Pineapple Fish (Hutchins and Smith, 1991).
There are very few museum specimens, all from W.A. (e.g. Australian Museum record I31197001; Museum of Victoria record A1797, cited in OZCAM database, 2007; South Australian Museum record F10755, cited by R. Foster, S.A. Museum, pers. comm., 2006), including a specimen from the western side of the Great Australian Bight.
J. Moore (Florida Atlantic University, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2007), listed W.A. and western South Australia as the geographic range. However, Hutchins (2005) listed the species distribution as being temperate waters of W.A. only.

Habitat

The Little Pineapple Fish is a demersal species (May and Maxwell, 1986, cited by Froese and Pauly, 2007).
During a survey of the fishes of the Recherche Archipelago, Little Pineapple fish was recorded in soft bottom habitat that had been worked by fishers, using nets and dredges (Hutchins, 2005).
So far, the species has been recorded mainly from coastal waters over a narrow depth range on the continental shelf, previously known mainly from between 50m and 70m depth (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994; May and Maxwell, 1986, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2006), but the full depth range of specimens known to date is 32m to 99m (B. Hutchins, W.A. Museum, pers. comm., 2007; Currie and Sorokin, 2010).

Notes on Biology

Maximum size is reported to be 8cm (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994; May and Maxwell, 1986, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2007).

Fisheries Information

The Little Pineapple fish is occasionally taken by trawlers in continental shelf waters (Gomon et al., 1994).
The recording of this species by May and Maxwell (1986) indicates its presence in trawl grounds of southern Australia. It is likely that the species was recorded in CSIRO’s trawl cruises during the 1980s, but most fish records from those surveys were not verified or registered.
In the otter trawl sub-fishery of the South East Trawl fishery component of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fisheries (SESSF), an Integrated Scientific Monitoring Program (ISMP) reported that in 1 trawl shot, a 1kg of Little Pineapple Fish S. ananassa was recorded, and discarded (Wayte et al., 2004).
Based on a single specimen recorded from trawl grounds in southern Spencer Gulf during a research trawl survey(Currie and Sorokin, 2010), it is possible that this species is caught very infrequently in the Spencer Gulf prawn trawl fishery.

Vulnerable Characteristics of the Species, and Threatening Processes

There are few records of this species, and most of those come from a very narrow depth range. If the species has a relatively narrow depth range on the continental shelf, it may be vulnerable to impacts within that range (e.g. direct mortality due to trawling, or population impacts from habitat damage).
Trawling may be a threatening process, but more information is required. It is noted that Wayte et al. (2004) considered Little Pineapple fish to be at low risk from trawling impacts in the south-east trawl component of the SESSF (a fishery at the edge of the geographic range of this species). No information is available on the trawl capture of this species in south-western Australia, the main part of the geographic range.

Research Recommendations

Surveys are required to better determine the distribution of this species in South Australia (particularly in the South Australian portion of the Great Australian Bight, and in Spencer Gulf), and to determine the habitat.
Very little is known of the relative distribution, relative abundance, habitat requirements, and biology of the Little Pineapple Fish. Species identification of fisheries bycatch, particularly from trawlers in western S.A. and W.A., may provide additional information about distribution, habitat, and relative abundance or rarity of this species.

Management Recommendations

Given the lack of records, the presence of this species in bycatch should be reported, whenever possible. Trawl bycatch records in S.A. and W.A. should be lodged with the respective museums in those States.
Measures are required to reduce the bycatch of Little Pineapple Fish in trawl fisheries that operate in south-western Australia, and along the western and central South Australian coast .