I & I NSW Wild Fisheries research Program Hairtail and Frostfish (Trichiuridae) Exploitation Status Undefined

No local biological information available for either in this group, but growth and maturity have been studied for lepturus from the , where it supports a major fishery.

Scientific name Standard name comment

Trichiurus lepturus

Lepidopus caudatus frostfish

Trichiurus lepturus Image © Bernard Yau

Background The hairtail is commonly around 100 cm in length and about 2 kg in weight but reaches a The largehead hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) maximum length of about 220 cm and weight belongs to the family Trichiuridae which, of 3.5 kg. worldwide, includes nine genera and about 30 species generally referred to as or Overseas studies have observed that adults scabbardfishes. Off NSW, at least four species feed at the surface during the day, and retreat of trichiurids are found in deepwater, but the to deeper waters at night. In contrast, juveniles most well known member of the family to most and small adults tend to feed at night at the people is the hairtail, found in shallow coastal surface, and aggregate into schools at depths waters and estuaries. during the day. The adult hairtail diet consists mainly of fish with occasional and A cosmopolitan species, the largehead hairtail crustaceans, whereas juveniles mainly feed on is subject to significant fisheries off many planktonic crustaceans, euphausiids and small Asian countries, particularly China and Korea. fish. The world catch reportedly now exceeds 1.5 million t annually. In eastern Australia, Reported landings in NSW generally range hairtail occasionally school in coastal bays between 10 and 25 t with catches greatest and estuaries where they may be targeted during March-May. Production has mostly been by commercial fishers but in most years from the Estuary General Fishery, taken mainly only a small incidental catch is taken by line by handline. In recent years however, the fish or trawl. However, hairtail are important to trawl sector has reported the majority of hairtail NSW recreational anglers, particularly in the landings, mainly from the Newcastle-Port Hawkesbury River system. Stephens area. Recent annual landings have been very low (less than 3 t). The largehead hairtail prefers shallow coastal waters, with muddy substrates, and locally The frostfish or ribbonfishLepidopus ( caudatus) is known to frequent coastal embayments is a closely related species caught by trawlers such as Broken Bay to the north of Sydney. It operating in deepwater off NSW. It is a large fish is uniformly silver with a long, ribbon-shaped reaching about 200 cm in length and weighing body ending in a thin whip-like tail. Its body has 3 kg and, although similar in appearance to the no scales and its teeth are sharp and prominent. hairtail, can be distinguished by its small caudal

status of fisheries resources in nsw, 2008/09 Hairtail | p 171 wild fisheries research program

Historical Landings of Hairtail and Frostfish fin (tail). The frostfish migrates from the south

along the NSW upper slope (300-600 m depth) 150 during early winter on a spawning run and is occasionally trawled in very large numbers (individual catches can exceed 10 t). However, because of low market acceptance, significant 100 quantities of frostfish are discarded at sea and only small quantities are marketed. Landings (t) 50

Additional Notes

• Annual commercial landings of Trichiurus 0 lepturus exceeded 50 t in the early 1990s, and 88/89 93/94 98/99 03/04 08/09 show an episodic availability pattern - recent Financial Year landings have been very low. Commercial landings (including available historical records) of hairtail and frostfish for NSW from 1987/88 to • Important recreational species although very 2008/09 for all fishing methods. specialised recreational fishery in winter (very Further Reading few anglers target hairtail). Grant, E.M. (1982). Guide to fishes. Brisbane, • Caught in deep estuaries and offshore as Department of Harbours and Marine. bycatch through the use of live baits. Hsu, K.C., N.T. Shih, I.H. Ni and K.T. Shao (2007). • Movements into estuaries are sporadic Genetic variation in Trichiurus lepturus (: (along with many other characteristics of this Trichiuridae) in waters off Taiwan: several species or species). cohort contribution. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology14 : 215-220. • NSW is at the southern end of their Hutchins, B. and R. Swainston (1993). Sea Fishes of distribution. Note that catches in NSW are Southern Australia. Smithfield, NSW, Swainston insignificant at a global scale. publishing. • Recent research from Korea has described Kailola, P.J., M.J. Williams, P.C. Stewart, R.E. Reichelt, growth and size at maturity - preliminary A. McNee and C. Grieve, Eds. (1993). Australian analyses suggest some concern about Fisheries Resources. Canberra, Australia, Bureau overfishing of the stock in the Asian region. of Resource Sciences, Department of Primary Industries and Energy, and the Fisheries Research • Southern frost fish, caudatus, is and Development Corporation. caught by trawling in deepwater, and a large proportion of the catch is discarded due to Martins, A.S. and M. Haimovici (1997). Distribution, abundance and biological interactions of the poor market acceptance. cutlassfishTrichiurus lepturus in the southern Brazil • In NSW there is a recreational bag limit of 10 subtropical convergence ecosystem. Fisheries hairtail. Research 30 (3): 217-227. Martins, A.S., M. Haimovici and R. Palacios (2005). Diet and feeding of the cutlassfishTrichiurus lepturus in Catch the subtropical convergence ecosystem of southern Brazil. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of Recreational Catch of Hairtail the United Kingdom 85 (5): 1223-1229. The annual recreational harvest of hairtail in Pollard, J. (1980). G.P. Whitley’s Handbook of Australian NSW is variable and likely to be less than 10 t. Fishes. Sydney, Jack Pollard Publishing Pty. Ltd. Yearsley, G.K., P.R. Last and R.D. Ward (1999). Australian Seafood Handbook. Hobart, CSIRO Marine Research.

Please visit the CSIRO website, http://www.marine.csiro.au/caab/ and search for the species code (CAAB) 37 440004 and 37 440002, common name or scientific name to find further information.

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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 p 172 | Hairtail user’s independent adviser.