by
Jenny Edwards
While most groups adopt cute or cuddly mascots, the Nature Coast Marine Group favours a devil - the Eastern Blue Devil Fish. It is a puzzle why this colourful fish was given its less than complimentary common name. Certainly it doesn’t have a very cheerful expression but then most fish don’t…
The Eastern Blue Devil Fish (Paraplesiops bleekeri) is a rare species that is seen (if you are very lucky) in caves and under ledges of reefs that are 3 to 30m deep. It ranges mainly along the southern half of NSW and grows to about 40cm long. In our area they have been sighted at Black Rock and Burrewarra Point, within what are now sanctuary zones. This fish is now fully protected in New South Wales and like all officially designated threatened species, must be immediately returned carefully to the water if it is accidentally caught.
Sunday 7 September was Threatened Species Day, so spare a thought for the Blue Devil Fish and some of our threatened marine species.
People are probably more familiar with species such as the Grey Nurse Shark which is still being killed by hooks in the mouth and gut even though it is no longer deliberately hunted. The Great White Shark is another species facing extinction. Unfortunately, the shark-fin industry is likely to put a lot more shark species on the threatened species list very soon.
Southern Bluefin Tuna were once common along our coast but over-fishing has put them on the threatened species list. If left alone they can grow to 200kg and over 2m in length but most of the relatively few adults left these days are smaller.
Juveniles of the black cod are occasionally seen in our Nature Coast waters, but it’s a long time since anyone reported sighting an adult. The black cod grows to 1.2 metres. Adults may be sighted in the Solitary Islands Marine Park, or more likely, around Lord Howe Is and at isolated reefs north of there. In years to come, juveniles may survive to become adults in Batemans Marine Park sanctuary zones.
Sea horses, sea dragons and pipe fish are all now fully protected in NSW but they are still illegally caught for aquariums and the Chinese medicine trade. This group of fish, the Syngnathids, are famous for having “pregnant” fathers since the female deposits eggs in the male’s pouch (or under the male’s tail in the case of sea dragons) and he broods them until the young fish are ready to leave. They all have armour-coated bodies reinforced with rings. Most are slow moving and rely on camouflaging themselves among the seaweed, seagrass and other organisms of their habitats. Pipefish and seahorses are often found in shallow coastal estuaries while the Weedy (Common) Seadragon prefers reefs 1 to 50m deep.
