SETFIA member Wayne Cheers was recently out seining for flathead 50 kilometers east of Lakes Entrance (Victoria) and was stumped when his gear tangled with a strange plastic yellow device floating freely on the surface . Wayne retrieved the barnacle encrusted plastic cone and set out to find why a black cylinder attached to it was beeping with a flashing red light. After some investigation,...
READ MOREToday's fish is known to pack a shocking surprise - the Short-tail Torpedo Ray (Torpedo macneilli). The Short-tail Torpedo Ray has rows of modified muscle cells, known as electocytes, throughout its disc. These cells act like miniature batteries and are capable of releasing a series of shocks equivalent in voltage to four car batteries. There are reports of fisherman being thrown s...
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Today's fish is a prickly customer - the Porcupine Pufferfish. The slow swimming porcupine fish has the ability to inflate its body by swallowing water - making its body rounder. This increase in size reduces the range of potential predators that can swallow it to only those with much bigger mouths. A second defense mechanism is also provided by the sharp spines, which radiate outwards when...
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Our Fish of the Day was spat out of the mouth of a gemfish caught by one of our members from 400 metre deep water off the coast of Victoria. Lightfish (of the family Phosicthyidae) are small, common, mid-water fishes of the deep sea. They are highly bioluminescent, meaning they glow-in-the-dark and have a row of lights (called photopores by scientists) along their belly. These lights have a fa...
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