© 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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MACRORAMPHOSIDAE: SNIPEFISHES and BELLOWSFISHES

© CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research

The Macroramphosidae family, in the Order Syngnathiformes, comprises a group of small, flattened marine fishes, distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific. Some authors place these fishes in a sub-family (Macroramphosinae) of the closely related Centriscidae (Nelson, 2006).
Like seahorses and pipefishes, these long, thin fishes have fused mouthparts and bony plates in the body (Norman, 2003). Specifically, members of the group have extremely compressed, sharp-edged bodies; tiny, granular body scales, with a sandpaper-like texture, and bony plates on the flanks and belly. The first or second dorsal spine is long and sharp, located at the extreme end of the body, and in some species is armed with heavy, barbed spines that can be locked erect. Dorsal and caudal soft fins are displaced ventrally. Members of the family have no lateral line, and no teeth. Within the Macroramphosidae, the Bellowsfish have greatly elongated slender snouts and a tiny mouth - their shape resembling old fire bellows (Stewart and Roberts, 2004).
Macroramphosids and their relatives, in the Centriscidae, often swim in a vertical position with the snout downwards. The fish swim primarily by sculling the pectoral fins, due to the rigid bony plates on the body (Stewart and Roberts, 2004). They usually feed on zooplankton, benthic fauna (such as crustaceans and echinoderms), and some take small fishes.  A few members of the family are used in the aquarium trade (Nelson, 1994; Froese and Pauly, 2007).
Members of the genera Macroramphosus, Centriscops and Notopogon are found in southern Australia (Australian Museum, 2003i; Stewart and Roberts, 2004). These include:
* Snipefish / Common Snipefish Macroramphosus scolopax, a globally distributed species from the continental shelf and upper slope;
* Banded Bellowsfish Centriscops humerosus and Crested Bellowsfish Notopogon lilliei, both of which are broadly distributed across the southern hemisphere in shelf and slope waters;
* Orange Bellowsfish / Longspine Notopogon xenosoma, whose distribution has been described as almost circum-global in the subtropical belt of the Southern Hemisphere (Williams et al., 2001), is found around New Zealand, along the Norfolk Ridge to New Caledonia, off eastern and western Australia, the Southern Indian Ocean, Madagascar and southern Africa (Duhamel, 1995 and 1997; Stewart and Roberts, 2004). The species is listed as being found in the South East Marine Region (i.e. the region from New South Wales through to the Great Australian Bight, and including Tasmania) (CSIRO et al., 2001). Notopogon xenosoma is closely related to N. fernandezianus, from southern South America and the southeast Pacific Ocean (Duhamel, 1995, cited by Stewart and Roberts, 2004). There is very little published information about the habitat of this species. In the New Zealand region, the Orange Bellowsfish has been recorded within the depth range 20m – 880m (Stewart and Roberts, 2004). CSIRO et al. (2001) listed N. xenosoma as occurring in the continental shelf area of the South East Marine Region. The species, which grows to about 20cm (Stewart and Roberts, 2004), is part of the bycatch in the Ocean Prawn Trawl and Ocean Fish Trawl fisheries in New South Wales. In the Ocean Prawn Trawl Deepwater sector, fishery independent surveys showed that the frequency of occurrence of Notopogon xenosoma across all trawls was approximately 4% (N.S.W. Department of Primary Industries, 2004).
Three species are included in synopses below, because little is known about the population sizes of these species across southern Australia, and all are part of the discarded bycatch in various fisheries across temperate Australian waters, including Commonwealth-managed trawl fisheries.

Associated taxa

Banded Bellowsfish	Centriscops humerosus (Richardson, 1846)
Crested Bellowsfish	Notopogon lilliei Regan, 1914
Snipefish / Common Snipefish / Longspine Snipefish	Macroramphosus scolopax (Linnaeus, 1758)