© 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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MORIDAE: MORID CODS and BEARDIES

© Antony King

The Moridae is a globally distributed family of marine fishes, collectively found over a very broad depth range (from the shallow subtidal, to ~ 3,000m deep). Currently, there are 18 genera and 111 named species in the family (Froese and Pauly, 2007).
Morid cods are usually elongate, soft-bodied fishes that have two dorsal fins, the first short and the second elongate, and a single (rarely two) elongate anal fin, and all fins lack spines, being composed entirely of soft rays (Kuiter, 1993). The tail is separated from the body by a narrow caudal peduncle.  Some species have a short barbel under the chin (Kuiter, 1993; University of Hawaii, 2006). Morid fishes have a swim bladder with an “otophysic connection to auditory capsules” (Paulin et al., 1988; Cohen et al., 1990), meaning that the swim bladder has “horn-like extensions that project forward into the vicinity of the sound receptive areas of the skull and brain” (Gomon, in Gomon et al., 1994).
The majority are demersal, swimming just above the seafloor. Morid fishes feed on a variety of fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans close to the bottom (University of Hawaii, 2006).
There are more than 30 species recognised around Australian and sub-Antarctic waters, plus at least 10 in the process of description, or awaiting description (CSIRO, 2007). In the Standard Names of Australian Fishes (Yearsley et al., 2006) 27 named species in Australia were recognised in the Moridae. At the Museum of Victoria, new species in the deep-water Morid genus Guttigadus are being described (by Gomon and Last).
Four of the species from continental shelf waters are described here, due to their potentially vulnerable life history characteristics, and, for some, their frequent capture (sometimes in large numbers) in a variety of fisheries across southern Australia, including South Australia. Two other species found in southern Australia, the Finetooth Beardie Eeyorius hutchinsi Paulin 1986 and the geographically widespread Slender Beardie Lotella phycis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1847) are not included in synopses below, because these cryptic, shallow water species are not fished, and no major threatening processes are evident.

Associated taxa

Beardie / Largetooth Beardie	Lotella rhacina (Forster, in Bloch and Schneider, 1801)
Bastard Red Cod / Northern Bastard Cod	Pseudophycis breviuscula (Richardson, 1846)
Bearded Cod / Bearded Rock Cod / Southern Rock Cod	Pseudophycis barbata Günther, 1863
Red Cod	Pseudophycis bachus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801)