One of the captive-reared Red handfish, resighted days after being returned to the wild. Image: Rick Stuart-Smith
Juvenile Red handfish hatched and raised from eggs at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), CSIRO and Seahorse World have been released back into the wild to help the species avoid extinction.
Conservation of handfish and their habitats – Annual Report 2019
Abstract:
We have completed and analysed performance assessment surveys at nine local population sites for spotted handfish in the Derwent estuary from 2015-2019. To this time series we have also incorporated historic data for individual sites back to 1998. Local populations generally show stability of occurrence but with some difference in abundance (as measured by estimates of fish densities per habitat) by years.
From left: Spotted handfish. Image: Tyson Bessell, University of Tasmania. Spotted Handfish. Image: Tim Lynch, CSIRO. Red Handfish. Image: Rick Stuart-Smith, Reef Life Survey.
(Previous project titles - Monitoring and conservation of spotted handfish, Conservation of spotted handfish and their habitat)
