The Australian bandfish (''Cepola australis'') is a species of bandfish in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cepolidae. It has been reported from the

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coastal regions of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and

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, although some of these records may represent confusion with other species.

Taxonomy

The Australian bandfish was first formally described in 1899 by the Irish born Australian ichthyologist James Douglas Ogilby with the type locality given as Port Jackson, New South Wales. The specific name ''australis'' means "southern", as it the time Ogilby described it this was thought to be the southernmost species in the genus ''

Cepola ''Cepola'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the bandfish family, Cepolidae. The name red bandfish is applied to all members of this genus, but particularly ''C. macrophthalma'', and generally not ''C. australis'', which is al ...

'', as '' C. haastii'' of New Zealand was then placed in the monotypic ''Hypolycodes''. The taxon currently regarded as ''Cepola australis'' may represent more than one species.

Description

The Australian bandfish is an elongated fish with the rearmost soft rays of both the elongated

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...

and

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

s connected to its lanceolate

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

by a membrane to form a continuous fin. It has a relatively large eye and a blunt snout with an oblique mouth. The dorsal fin has 3 spines and 54-57 soft rays while the anal fin contains a single spine and 50-53 soft rays. there is a row of small teeth in each jaw with a second row of curved teeth in the anterior part of the upper and lower jaws. This species attains a maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

of . They are reddish in colour, the colour varying between pink and red dependant on the depth the fish is at.

Distribution and habitat

The Australian bandfish is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Australia. It is found from northern Queensland, south on the eastern coast and east along the southern coast as far as eastern South Australia. They live in burrows in areas of sand and mud from the shallows down to a depth of .

Biology

Australian bandfish live in burrows and emerge from these burrows to feed on zooplankton like other bandfishes.

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2005917 Australian bandfish Marine fish of Australia Australian bandfish Taxa named by James Douglas Ogilby