Australasian fishes's Boletim

On the east coast of Australia, the Yellow Spotted Trevally, Turrum fulvoguttatum, is recorded as far south as the Clarence River, New South Wales (29^o23'S). View the species page on the Australian Faunal Directory. The fish in Pete Mcgee's observation was photographed over 500 kilometres south of this.

Pete(@petemcgee) stated, "2023 had been a good season for juvenile tropical species sightings around Sydney. I was diving around the jetty at Chowder Bay when I saw a jack species I wasn't familiar with next to a black-spotted goatfish. The visibility wasn't great, but I managed to get a couple of shots from a distance before the two swam off. I wondered if it may have been an Onion Trevally (Turrum coeruleopinnatum), and a friend initially suggested it may be a Greater Amberjack (Seriola dumerili), before the identity was confirmed by experts on iNatualist as Turrum fulvoguttatum."

As well as being observed well south of its recognized range, this observation is the first record of the species from Sydney Harbour. View the 2022 Sydney Harbour fish paper by DiBattista et al.

Thank you Pete for uploading your observation.

As most project Journal readers know, I have been writing bio-blurbs of project participants for some time. To date we have featured almost 50 project participants over the years and will continue to do so. The Journal has also highlighted significant project discoveries, observation statistics, important project information and updates.

My New Year’s resolution for 2023 was to write a self-published book on the background of the Australasian Fishes Project and citizen science. I was successful in meeting my goal, by publishing on Amazon, Holy Cow! I am a Citizen Scientist. It is 197 pages of often humorous information about today’s Golden Age of Scientific Discovery, the role of citizen science in professional science and features bio blurbs of many familiar Australasian Fishes project members and contributors. Of course, there’s a bit of personal information about me, and the road I travelled to reach citizen science, with plenty of wrong turns, detours and flat tyres.

For any participants interested in how the project was envisioned and originally organised by Mark McGrouther and friends, this book will provide valuable insight into the early days of Australasian Fishes and its growth over time. The book contains numerous examples of information about development and achievements of Australasian Fishes to date and some possible directions I hope the project may take in the future.

Finally, the book provides insight and tips for those wanting to start up their own citizen science project, from lessons learned from watching Australasian Fishes grow and mature over time. It is a significant project we can all be extremely proud to help to support, and which I am proud to highlight in this book. In some ways, it is the story of all of us in the project. It has also served as the background to presentations I have made at local Sydney dive clubs, and I would be happy to present to any groups interested.

The book is available in paperback and Kindle versions and can be found at Holy Cow! I am a Citizen Scientist.

This journal post was written by Australasian Fishes member, Harry Rosenthal.

This Barred Knifejaw, Oplegnathus fasciatus, is a new record for Australia. It was speared by Angus McCook in June 2023 off Tea Gardens, New South Wales.

Thank you Vin Rushworth for uploading the observation.

Prior to this observation only one species of Oplegnathus was known from Australia -Oplegnathus woodwardi.

Luckily for us, Angus' fish is an adult male that has the distinctive black colouration around the mouth and eye typical of the Barred Knifejaw. The species also has more vertical bars than O. woodwardi, a high soft dorsal fin, and dusky coloured pectoral, pelvic and caudal fins.

Interestingly the species has also been recorded as an introduction to New Zealand. It also occurs in Japan, Korea, Taiwan. Hawaii and the Mediterranean Sea, where it has been introduced.

Angus stated, "I was competing in the Australian pacific coast championships. I had just lost a large yellowtail kingfish and decided to scrounge for some smaller species in Esmeralda Cove on Broughton Island. While scoping around a large boulder edge where I had previously found a variety of species, I approached a school of Black Drummer swimming out in the open. As I got closer, I noticed one fish looked different to the rest, later realizing what it was as my father couldn't stop raving about this same fish from a previous dive in the same spot just a few months prior. Once I approached the school, the Knifejaw became very skittish, swimming erratically, separating itself from the school. I slowly followed along the surface until it eventually sought refuge in a cave. I patiently hid out of sight on the other side of the cave and waited for the fish to emerge. After spearing the fish, at the competition weigh-in I found out how unknown this fish was and the likelihood of it being an Australian record. It makes me very proud to be a part of history."

References:

• Nakabo, T. 2002. Fishes of Japan: with pictorial keys to the species. Tokai University Press. Pp 2428.
• Roberts, C., Stewart, A.L. and C.D. Struthers. 2015. The Fishes of New Zealand. Te Papa Press. Pp 1748.