I & I NSW research Program Ghostsharks (Chimaeriformes) Exploitation Status Undefined

Small numbers of individuals are harvested as bycatch in the Ocean Trawl Fishery mainly from the outer continental shelf and continental slope. There is a lack of information with which to assess stock status.

Scientific name Standard name comment Occasionally caught inshore south of milii elephantfish Sydney.

Caught on outer shelf and upper slope (120 ogilbyi Ogilby’s ghostshark to 400 m)

Small species infrequently caught off Hydrolagus marmoratus marbled ghostshark nothern NSW indepths 550-1000 m Caught in upper slope depths (200 to Hydrolagus lemures blackfin ghostshark 700 m) fulva Southern chimaera Frequently caught 780-1000 m.

Chimaera macrospina longspine chimaera Caught in midslope depths (435-1300 m).

Harriotta raleighana bigspine spookfish Caught in midslope depths (700-900 m).

Rhinochimaera pacifica pacific spookfish Caught in midslope depths (760-1290 m).

Known only from four specimens caught in Chimaera obscura shortspine chimaera 1050 m depth off Tuncurry

Hydrolagus ogilbyi Image © Bernard Yau Background ralieghana; family ). However, despite their mainly deepwater Chimaeriforms include three families of mainly habitat and unusual appearance, deepwater chondrichthyans (cartilaginous have good eating qualities and small quantities ), and all families are represented in of a variety of species are landed as incidental NSW waters. The of deepwater catches in the Ocean Trawl Fishery. ghostsharks () in Australian and waters has recently been clarified The elephantfish is the only shallow water and the NSW fauna is now known to include species of the group, occurring around at least nine species. There is one species southern and in New Zealand. of elephantfish Callorhinchus( milii; family Elephantfish can grow to at least 110 cm in Callorhinchidae), several species of shortnosed length and about 9 kg in weight, and are ghostsharks (Chimaera spp. and occasionally caught off the far south coast Hydrolagus spp.; family Chimaeridae), and of NSW. They are bottom feeders with plate- two species of longnosed ghostsharks or like teeth in both jaws used to crush shellfish spookfishes ( pacifica and and other invertebrate prey. The status of the elephantfish stock is currently being assessed

status of fisheries resources in nsw, 2008/09 Ghostsharks | p 145 wild fisheries research program

by the Commonwealth, as it forms a significant Historical Landings of Ghostsharks by-catch in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish

and Fishery, and there is a significant 8 recreational catch in the southern states.

More commonly caught by NSW offshore 6 trawlers, albeit in relatively small numbers, are several species of ghostsharks. Ogilby’s ghostshark (Hydrolagus ogilbyi) may be caught 4 as shallow as 150 m but the other species Landings (t)

inhabit continental slope depths between 2 500 and 1500 m. Some species of NSW ghostsharks grow to about 80 cm in length (not including the tail filament) and weigh up 0 to 5 kg. All deepwater chimaeras have long 93/94 95/96 97/98 99/00 01/02 03/04 05/06 07/08 Financial Year filamentous tails making them weak swimmers Commercial landings (including available historical and they are reported to feed mainly on small records) of ghostsharks for NSW from 1991/92 to 2008/09 and invertebrates, including squids. for all fishing methods. The females of all chimaeras are oviparous in that they lay single large in leathery - cases; these eggs take up to a year to develop Further Reading and hatch into a fully formed small shark. While Graham, K.J., N.J. Andrew and K.E. Hodgson (2001). the elephantfish breeds annually in shallow Changes in relative abundance of and rays water, little is known of the breeding biology on Australian South East Fishery trawl grounds of deepwater chimaerids. However, like most after twenty years of fishing, Marine and Freshwater deepwater sharks, ghostsharks are likely to Research 52: 549-61. have slow growth rates and very low fecundity, Last, P.R. and J.D. Stevens (2009). Sharks and Rays of making them vulnerable to over fishing. Australia 2nd Edition. Melbourne, CSIRO. Punt, A.E., T.I. Walker and A.S. Gason (2004). Initial assessments of (Pristiophorus cirratus Additional Notes and P. nudipinnis) and elephant fish Callorhinchus( • It is likely that the abundance of these species milii). In: G. N. Tuck and A. D. M. Smith(eds), Stock has always been quite low off NSW. assessment for South East and Southern Shark Fishery Species FRDC Project No 2001/005. Hobart, • Most are deepwater sharks with typically low Tasmania, CSIRO Marine Research: 335-369 pp. fecundity. Walker, T.I. and R.J. Hudson (2005). Sawshark and • Elephantfish is subject to catch limits in the elephant fish assessment and by-catch evaluation Commonwealth Southern Shark Fishery (Total in the Southern Shark Fishery. Final Report, FRDC project 1999/103. Victoria, Primary Industries Allowable Catch of 94 t). Research. • Ghostsharks are a key secondary species in Yearsley, G.K., P.R. Last and R.D. Ward (1999). Australian the Ocean Trawl Fishery. Seafood Handbook. Hobart, CSIRO Marine Research.

Catch Please visit the CSIRO website, Recreational Catch of Ghostsharks http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/ and search for the species code (CAAB) 37 042001, 37 042011, The annual recreational harvest of ghostsharks 37 042006, 37 042007, 37 043001, 37 042003, in NSW is likely to be less than one tonne. 37 044001 and 37 044002 common name or scientific name to find further information. Please note that common names have been adopted from Last and Stevens (2010) and may differ to those contained on the CAAB website.

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Disclaimer: The information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing (April 2010). However, because of advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that information upon which they rely is up to date and to check currency of the information with the appropriate officer of Industry and Investment NSW or the user’s independent adviser. p 146 | Ghostsharks