Scientists in Tasmania Successfully Breed Endangered Red Handfish

There are less than 100 red handfish left in the wild, and a facility in Tasmania has successfully bred 21 more.

Transcript

00:00 An odd-looking fellow crawling around on its fence.

00:04 This is the endangered Tasmanian red handfish, a species at threat of extinction.

00:10 There are only about 100 of them left in the wild.

00:14 And to help save the species from dying out, many of them have been housed at breeding

00:18 facilities in Tasmania to protect them from summer heat waves.

00:22 But it's not an easy fish to breed.

00:24 So the birth of 21 of them here at the Institute for Marine And Antarctic Studies is a big

00:29 success.

00:30 It's a major event for us, so that's only the second time that we've been able to breed

00:34 this species in captivity.

00:37 These baby fish are only 8 millimetres long and still growing.

00:41 They'll stay at the facility for two years to mature, and then be released into the wild.

00:46 During this time, they'll be taught how to survive in the outside world.

00:50 It's really about trying to make them street smart.

00:52 So starting with kind of simple increases in habitat complexity and increasing that

00:57 and then adding other species that they're likely to come across in the wild as well.

01:02 The fish can only be found in two places around Tasmania, but its habitats there are also

01:07 threatened.

01:08 It's largely driven by overabundant native sea urchins that are just overgrazing the

01:14 seaweed that the red handfish need to survive in.

01:17 And that's driven by removal of rock lobsters, which are the urchin predators.

01:22 Staff at the Centre say these habitats need to be protected and managed to ensure the

01:27 handfish can survive.

01:29 They hope the fish and the environment will be strong enough to ensure another generation

01:33 can be brought into the world.

01:35 Luffy Lee and Sani Qi for Tawan Plus.

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