Snubnose Garfish, Arrhamphus sclerolepis Günther 1866


Other Names: Jumping Halfbeak, No Bill Garfish, No-bill Garfish, Northern Snub-nosed Garfish, Short Bill Garfish, Short-beaked Garfish, Short-bill, Snubbie, Snub-nosed Garfish, South-east Snub-nosed Garfish

A Snubnose Garfish, Arrhamphus sclerolepis, caught at Machans Beach, Queensland. Source: Lek / Bowerbird, http://www.bowerbird.org.au/. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Summary:
A dull olive-green garfish with a short lower jaw, a whitish to silvery belly, a silvery mid-lateral stripe and sometimes several broken stripes along the sides. The lower jaw is relatively longer in juveniles than adults.

Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2018, Arrhamphus sclerolepis in Fishes of Australia, accessed 08 Dec 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/4083

Snubnose Garfish, Arrhamphus sclerolepis Günther 1866

More Info


Distribution

Carnarvon, Western Australia, to about Lindeman Island and Bowen, Queensland, with (Arrhamphus sclerolepis sclerolepis), with (A. sclerolepis krefftii) from about Rockhampton, Queensland to Laurieton, New South Wales, and possibly as far south as Port Jackson, New South Wales. The species also occurs in southern Papua New Guinea.
Inhabits shallow coastal waters, brackish estuaries and the lower reaches of freshwater rivers, streams and some lakes. Large schools often forage around aquatic vegetation.

Features

Dorsal fin 13-16; Anal fin 14-17; Gill rakers (first arch) 21-25; Vertebrae 45-48. 
Lower jaw proportionately much shorter at larger sizes. Anal rays usually 15; vertebrae 45-48, usually 46 or 47.
The subspecies A. sclerolepis kreffti has 13-16 dorsal-fin rays, 15-17 anal-fin rays, 48-50 vertebrae and 19-21 gill rakers.

Fisheries

Taken by commercial and recreational fishers, and considered to be an excellent food fish.

Similar Species

The Snubnose Garfish can be recognised by its very short lower jaw, which is much shorter than the lower jaw of other garfish species.

Etymology

Arrhamphus is from the Greek a meaning 'without' and rhamphos meaning 'bill, beak'.
The common name, Snubnose Garfish, refers to the short lower jaw. 

Species Citation

Arrhamphus sclerolepis Günther, 1866, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 6: 276. Type locality: Australia (as 'New Zealand'). 

Author

Bray, D.J. 2018

Resources

Australian Faunal Directory

Snubnose Garfish, Arrhamphus sclerolepis Günther 1866

References


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Allen, G.R. 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Australia. Neptune, New Jersey : T.F.H. Publications 240 pp., 63 pls. 

Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 292 pp. 106 pls. 

Allen, G.R., Midgley, S.H. & Allen, M. 2002. Field Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 394 pp. 

Allen, G.R. & Swainston, R. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A field guide for anglers and divers. Perth, WA : Western Australian Museum vi 201 pp., 70 pls.

Castelnau, F.L. de 1878. Australian fishes, new or little known species. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 2(3): 225-248 pls 1-2 (as Hemirhamphus breviceps)

Coates, D. 1993. Fish ecology and management of the Sepik-Ramu, New Guinea, a large contemporary tropical river basin. Environmental Biology of Fishes 38(4): 345-368.

Collette, B.B. 1974. The garfishes (Hemiramphidae) of Australia and New Zealand. Records of the Australian Museum 29(2): 11-105 figs 1-23

Collette, B.B. 1999. Family Hemiramphidae. pp. 2180-2196 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 4 2069-2790 pp.

Grant, E.M. 1975. Guide to Fishes. Brisbane : Queensland Government, Co-ordinator General’s Department 640 pp.

Grant, E.M. 2002. Guide to Fishes. Redcliffe : EM Grant Pty Ltd 880 pp.

Günther, A. 1866. Catalogue of the Fishes of the British Museum. Catalogue of the Physostomi, containing the families Salmonidae, Percopsidae, Galaxidae, Mormyridae, Gymnarchidae, Esocidae, Umbridae, Scombresocidae, Cyprinodontidae, in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 6 368 pp.

Hughes, J.M. & J. Stewart. 2006. Reproductive biology of three commercially important hemiramphid species in south-eastern Australia. Environmental Biology of Fishes 75(2): 237-256.

Hutchins, J.B. 2003. Checklist of marine fishes of the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia. pp. 453-478 in Wells, F.E., Walker, D.I., & Jones, D.S. (eds). Proceedings of the Eleventh International Marine Biological Workshop: The Marine Flora and Fauna of Dampier, Western Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum.

Johnson, J.W. 1999. Annotated checklist of the fishes of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 43(2): 709-762.

Johnson, J.W. 2010. Fishes of the Moreton Bay Marine Park and adjacent continental shelf waters, Queensland, Australia. pp. 299-353 in Davie, P.J.F. & Phillips, J.A. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Marine Biological Workshop, The Marine Fauna and Flora of Moreton Bay. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 54(3)

Larson, H.K., Williams, R.S. & Hammer, M.P. 2013. An annotated checklist of the fishes of the Northern Territory, Australia. Zootaxa 3696(1): 1-293

Larson, H.K. & Williams, R.S. 1997. Darwin Harbour fishes: a survey and annotated checklist. pp. 339-380 in Hanley, H.R., Caswell, G., Megirian, D. & Larson, H.K. (eds). The Marine Flora and Fauna of Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory, Australia. Proceedings of the Sixth International Marine Biology Workshop. Darwin : Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory 466 pp.

Martin, T.J., Brewer D.T. & Blaber, S.J. 1995. Factors affecting distribution and abundance of small demersal fishes in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 46(6): 909-020

Merrick, J.R. & Schmida, G.E. 1984. Australian Freshwater Fishes Biology and Management. Sydney : J.R. Merrick 409 pp. figs 280 col. figs.

Morgan, D.L., G.R. Allen, B.J. Pusey & D.W. Burrows. 2011. A review of the freshwater fishes of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Zootaxa 2816: 1-64. 

Parin, N.V., Collette, B.B. & Shcherbachev, Y.N. 1980. Preliminary review of the marine halfbeaks (Hemiramphidae, Beloniformes) of the tropical Indo-west Pacific. Trudy Instituta Okeanologii. Akademiya Nauk SSSR. Moskva 97: 7-173 figs 1-47 [in Russian, English summary]

Pusey, B.J., Arthington, A.H. & Read, M.G. 1995. Species richness and spatial variation in fish assemblage structure in two rivers of the wet tropics of northern Queensland, Australia. Environmental Biology of Fishes 42(2): 181-199.

Roughley, T.C. 1957. Fish and Fisheries of Australia. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 341 pp.

Steindachner, F. 1867. Ichthyologische Notizen (6) 2. Zur Fischfauna von Port Jackson. Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse 56(1): 320-335 fig. 1 (as Hemiramphus krefftii)

Tibbetts, I.R. 1991. The trophic ecology, functional morphology and phylogeny of the Hemiramphidae (Beloniformes). PhD Thesis, University of Queensland

Tibbetts, I.R. 1997. The distribution and function of mucous cells and their secretions in the alimentary tract of Arrhamphus sclerolepis krefftii. Journal of Fish Biology 50: 809–820.

Tibbetts, I.R. & Carseldine, L. 2003. Anatomy of a hemiramphid pharyngeal mill with reference to Arrhamphus sclerolepis krefftii (Steindachner) (Teleostei: Hemiramphidae). Journal of Morphology 255(2): 228-243.

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Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37234006

Depth:0-20 m

Fishing:Commercial, recreational fish

Habitat:Freshwater to coastal marine

Max weight:40 cm TL

Species Image Gallery

Species Maps

CAAB distribution map