Elephantfish, Callorhinchus milii (Bory de Saint-Vincent 1823)
An Elephantfish, Callorhinchus milii. Source: Rudie H. Kuiter / Aquatic Photographics. License: All rights reserved
A bizarre-looking cartilaginous fish with a hoe-shaped snout used to probe the bottom for small fishes and invertebrates. Elephantfish are silvery with iridescent reflections and dark variable markings, including spots, blotches and broad longitudinal bands along the sides.
Video of Elephantfish being released in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria
Elephantfish, Callorhinchus milii (Bory de Saint-Vincent 1823)
More Info
Distribution |
Port Stephens, New South Wales, around southern Australia, to Esperance, Western Australia, including Tasmania. Elsewhere the species occurs in New Zealand. Elephantfish are found inshore and offshore on sandy and muddy bottoms in depths to about 200 metres. In southern Australia, the species is most abundant in Bass Strait. During the egg-laying period, Elephantfish enter large shallow bays and estuaries such as Port Phillip and Western Port in Victoria, American River on Kangaroo Island and parts of the west coast of South Australia. |
Features |
Elephantfish have an elongate body, a long snout with a broad, flexible hoe-shaped snout process, two widely-separated dorsal fin a single gill opening and plate'like teeth in the jaws.. The head has a series of well-developed sensory pores and obvious mucous canals. Fins: Two widely separated dorsal fins, the first triangular in shape and preceded by a stout serrated spine, the second highest anteriorly and relatively short-based. A high, short-based anal fin is located midway between the large pectoral fins and the heterocercal tail (has a long upper lobe). |
Size |
To 1.5 m TL |
Colour |
Silvery with iridescent reflections and dark, variable markings on the sides, including several broad longitudinal bands, large spots and blotches. |
Feeding |
The hoe-shaped snout is used to probe the substrate for small fishes and invertebrates. |
Biology |
Elephantfish are oviparous, and females move inshore to lay pairs of leathery egg cases on sandy or muddy bottoms. The egg cases are golden-yellow in colour and measure up to 25x10 cm. Females lay about 20 eggs over a period of several weeks each year, and the embryos may take up to 10 months to hatch. Juveniles remain inshore for up to three years before moving into deeper waters offshore. Females mature at about 70 cm and males mature at about 50 cm. Maximum age has been estimated between 9-20 year (~15 years). |
Fisheries |
Elephantfish are relatively abundant and are taken by recreational anglers and as bycatch in commercial fisheries in Southern Australia and New Zealand. The flesh is of good quality, and is often sold as flake or whitefish. In southern Australia, commercial catch rates have been stable for the past 20 years, while fishing effort is reducing (Walker et al. 2002). Australia has a TAC (Total Allowable Catch) limit in place for the elephantfish, and a three-mile closure of all Victorian waters to shark fishing provides a large refuge for the species in southern Australia (Reardon et al. 2011). |
Conservation |
IUCN Red List: Least Concern |
Remarks |
The entire Elephantfish genome has been sequenced and this species has the smallest genome among the known cartilaginous fish genomes (Venkatesh et al. 2007). |
Similar Species |
The Elephantfish is the only Australian species in the family Callorhinchidae. |
Etymology |
Callorhinchus, is from the Greek kalos, kallos, meaning 'beautiful' and the Greek rhyngchos, meaning 'snout', in reference to the hoe-like snout of the Elephantfish. |
Species Citation |
Callorynchus milii Bory de Saint-Vincent 1823, Dictionnaire Classique d'Histoire Naturelle 3: 62. Type locality: Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia. |
Author |
Bray, D.J. 2019 |
Resources |
Elephantfish, Callorhinchus milii (Bory de Saint-Vincent 1823)
References
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Bory de Saint-Vincent, J.B.G.M. 1823. Dictionnaire Classique d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris : Rey et Gravier Vol. 3 592 pp.
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