Mouth Almighty, Glossamia aprion (Richardson 1842)


Other Names: Blanchard's Perchlet, Flabby, Gill's Cardinalfish, Gill's Cardinal-fish, Glossamia, Gobbleguts, Northern Mouthbreeder, Queensland Mouthbreeder, Queensland Mouthbrooder, Soldier Fish, Stinker

Mouth Almighty, Glossamia aprion. Source: Michael Hammer. License: all rights reserved

Summary:
A creamy-brown cardinalfish with 6-8 irregular broken darker olive-brown bar-like areas extending onto belly, or numerous small and large irregular darker brown spots and blotches, and a dark bar from eye to shoulder. The first dorsal fin is dusky, with the outer half blackish, pelvic fins and basal parts of second dorsal and anal fins with dark spots and marbling.

Video of a Mouth Almighty hunting amongst Pandanus roots in a small rainforest billabong on a freshwater spring in the upper reaches of the Finniss River, Northern Territory.

Cite this page as:
Gomon, M.F. & Bray, D.J. 2019, Glossamia aprion in Fishes of Australia, accessed 29 Mar 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/4224

Mouth Almighty, Glossamia aprion (Richardson 1842)

More Info


Distribution

Widespread in rivers, creeks and lagoons of northern Australia, from the Fitzroy River, Western Australia, to the Burnett River, Queensland. The species also occurs in New Guinea. Inhabits still or gently flowing fresh waters of coastal streams, pools, swamps and reservoirs; usually amongst aquatic vegetation at shallow margins.

Features

Dorsal fin VI-I, 9–11; Anal fin II, 8–10; Pectoral fin 12-13; LL 25–43, continued to tail base. Transverse scales 3.5–4.5 + 11–14; Lower Gill rakers 6.
Body oblong and compressed, rather elevated with a marked concavity before nape; body depth 2.4–2.8. Head 2.4-2.6 in length without tail. Eye large, 3.1-4.1 in head, 1.5-1.9 times interorbital and slightly greater than snout. Snout 3.2-4.2 in head; interorbital 4.2-4.6 in head. Lower jaw protruding slightly; maxilla reaching to below hind border of eye; broad bands of depressible villiform teeth in jaws; symphysial ones slightly larger; narrower bands of similar teeth on vomer and palatines and a small patch at back of tongue. Lower margin of preoperculum with a few coarse serrations. Preopercular ridge, orbital rim and preorbital entire. Gill rakers very short.
Large, mostly ctenoid scales.
Two separate dorsal fins, both tall; origin of first dorsal about opposite ventral fin; origin of 2nd dorsal about opposite anal fin; caudal fin rounded to slightly emarginate.

Size

To at least 10 cm SL.

Colour

Creamy-brown with 6-8 irregular broken darker olive-brown bar-like areas extending onto belly or numerous small and large irregular darker brown spots and blotches. A dark bar from eye to shoulder. 1st dorsal fin dusky, outer half blackish; pelvics and basal parts of 2nd dorsal and anal fins with dark spots and marbling.

Feeding

Nocturnal ambush carnivore feeding on aquatic and terrestrial insects, small fishes and crustaceans.

Biology

Spawning occurs in the late dry and early wet season, possibly at night. Eggs are relatively large but not numerous, and are incubated by the male parent in their mouth cavity. The larvae hatch at an advanced stage.

Remarks

Mionorus ramsayi Fowler, 1908 is sometimes listed as a synonym of this species, but it is a synonym of Vincentia conspersa

Species Citation

Apogon aprion Richardson 1842, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (ns)9(55): 16. Type locality: King's River, Port Essington.

Author

Gomon, M.F. & Bray, D.J. 2019

Resources

Atlas of Living Australia

Mouth Almighty, Glossamia aprion (Richardson 1842)

References


Allen, G.R. 1982. Inland Fishes of Western Australia.  Perth : Western Australian Museum 86 pp. 6 figs 20 pls.

Allen, G.R. 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Australia.  Neptune, New Jersey : T.F.H. Publications pp. 1–240 figs.

Allen, G.R. & Hoese, D.F. 1980. A collection of fishes from Cape York Peninsula, Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 63: 53–61.

Allen, G.R., Hortle, K.G. & Renyaan, S.J. 2000. Freshwater fishes of the Timika region, New Guinea. Timinka, Indonesia : P.T. Freeport Indonesia 175 pp.

Allen, G.R. & Leggett, R. 1990. A collection of freshwater fishes from the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 14(4): 527-545 fig. 1

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., Storey, A.W. & Yarrao, M. 2008. Freshwater Fishes of the Fly River Papua New Guinea. Tabubil, Papua New Guinea : Ok Tedi Mining 216 pp.

Castelnau, F.L. de 1878. Notes on the fishes of the Norman River. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 3(1): 41-51 (as Gulliveria fusca and Gulliveria fasciata)

Cook, B.D., Adams, M., Mather, P.B. & Hughes, J.M. 2012. Statistical phylogeographic tests of competing ‘Lake Carpentaria hypotheses’ in the mouth-brooding freshwater fish, Glossamia aprion (Apogonidae). Marine and Freshwater Research 63: 450-456 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF11222

De Vis, C.W. 1884. New Australian fishes in the Queensland Museum. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 9(2): 389-400 (as Apogonichthys longicauda)

Grant, E.M. 2002. Guide to Fishes.  Redcliffe : E.M. Grant Pty. Limited 9th Edn  880 pp. (as Glossamia aprion gilli).

Hungerford, R. 1981. Freshwater Fishing in Australia. Sydney : Jack Pollard Publishing Pty. Ltd. 108 pp. 

Krefft, G. 1868. Descriptions of some new Australian freshwater fishes. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1867: 942-944 (as Mionorus lunatus)

Larson, H.K. & Martin, K.C. 1990. Freshwater Fishes of the Northern Territory. Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences Handbook Series Number 1.  Darwin : Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences 102 pp. 73 figs.

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

Mabuchi, K., Fraser, T.H., Song, H., Azuma, Y. & Nishida, M. 2014. Revision of the systematics of the cardinalfishes (Percomorpha: Apogonidae) based on molecular analyses and comparative reevaluation of morphological characters. Zootaxa 3846(2): 151–203

Macleay, W.J. 1881. Descriptive catalogue of the fishes of Australia. Part 1. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 5(3): 302-444 (as Apogonichthys roseobrunneus)

Macleay, W.J. 1884. Supplement to the descriptive catalogue of the fishes of Australia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 9(1): 2-64 (as Gulliveria ramsayi)

McDowall, R.M. (ed.) 1980. Freshwater Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Sydney : A.H. & A.W. Reed 208 pp., figs, 32 pls.

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

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

Morgan, D.L., Allen, M.G., Bedford, P. & Horstman, M. 2004. Fish fauna of the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia – including the Bunuba, Gooniyandi, Ngarinyin, Nyikina and Walmajarii Aboriginal names. Records of the Western Australian Museum 22: 147-161

Ogilby, J.D. 1908. On new genera and species of fishes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 21: 1-26 (as Apogonichthys nebulosus)

Pollard, D.A. 1996. Family Apogonidae. pp. 181-182 in McDowall, R.M. (ed.). Freshwater Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Sydney : Reed Books 247 pp. 

Prokop, F. 2002. Australian Fish Guide. Croydon South, Victoria : Australian Fishing Network 256 pp. 

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.

Pusey, B.J., Kennard, M.J. & Arthington, A.H. 2004. Freshwater Fishes of North-eastern Australia. Collingwood, Victoria : CSIRO Publishing 684 pp. 

Pusey, B.J., Kennard, M.J. & Bird, J. 2000. Fishes of the dune fields of Cape Flattery, northern Queensland and other dune systems in north-eastern Australia. Ichthyological Explorations of Freshwater 11(1): 65-74

Pusey, B.J., Read, M.G. & Arthington, A.H. 1995. The feeding ecology of freshwater fishes in two rivers of the Australian wet tropics. Environmental Biology of Fishes 43(1): 85-103.

Richardson, J. 1842. Contributions to the ichthyology of Australia. Annals and Magazine of Natural History ns 9(55): 15-31 

Roberts, T.R. 1978. An ichthyological survey of the Fly River in Papua New Guinea with descriptions of new species. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 281: 1-72 figs 1-39

Steindachner, F. 1867. Über einige Fische aus dem Fitzroy-Flusse bei Rockhampton in Ost-Australien. Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse 55(1): 9-16 figs 1-2 (as Apogonichthys gillii)

Unmack, P.J. 2001. Biogeography of Australian freshwater fishes. Journal of Biogeography 28: 1053-1089 

Whitley, G.P. 1939. A new apogonid fish from Queensland. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan 405: 1-4 fig. 1 (as Kurandapogon blanchardi)

Whitley, G.P. 1956. List of native freshwater fishes of Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 1954-55: 39-47

Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37327102

Biology:Mouth brooder (males)

Habitat:Freshwater rivers, streams, lagoons

Max Size:10 cm SL

Species Image Gallery

Species Maps

CAAB distribution map