The morwongs, or ‘mowies’, are distinctive fish which are somewhat overlooked by anglers. In the case of the red morwong, this is understandable since they rarely take a baited hook. As if to compensate, however, they are particularly popular with the spearfishing fraternity.

The morwongs are an interesting group of fish. Of the 20 known species, at least 14 occur in Australian waters. We covered the jackass morwong in an earlier Fish File, and other morwongs familiar to Australian anglers would include the magpie morwong (found only around south-western Australia), the blue morwong (NSW and Victoria) and the so-called queen snapper (Victoria, SA and WA). The species under consideration this month, the red morwong, feeds on sedentary invertebrates and as such, rarely takes a bait. It is, however, held in high regard by coastal spear fishers in southern NSW and Victoria.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

The morwongs are distinctive fishes which share a number of characteristics. The first feature to look at is the pectoral (side) fins, which have an extremely elongated extension of the lower four to seven rays reaching well back along the body. Other distinguishing features are large eyes, an elongated snout and a small mouth surrounded by thick, rubbery lips. In fact, the Latin name of the red morwong, Cheilodactylus, literally means ‘lips and fingers’. The red morwong is an especially attractive fish with a reddish brown back, white underbelly, a stripe through the eye and white blotchy stripes on the rear third of the body. The main species which it might be confused with is the banded morwong, Cheilodatylus spectabilis, but as its name suggests, the latter has marked broad vertical bands or stripes.

DISTRIBUTION AND MOVEMENTS The red morwong is confined to the east coast of Australia, from southern Queensland to Bass Strait, with the westernmost record being Queenscliff, Victoria. It is also found off northeastern New Zealand. Red mowies prefer shallow water, rarely any deeper than 30 metres, and electronic tracking studies have shown them to be quite territorial with relatively small home ranges.

REPRODUCTION

The life cycle of morwongs is rather unusual in that the larvae, after hatching from small eggs, develop into long leaf-like transparent forms, called ‘paperfish’, which spend extended periods drifting in the water column before settling onto suitable habitat and transforming (metamorphosing) into the more recognisable adult form.
One fascinating finding of a study on red morwong in Sydney Harbour was that the sexes can be distinguished by careful examination. While the untrained eye could see no difference, it was found that male fish have longer bony ‘horns’ above their eyes than females and using this feature, 90 per cent of fish could be correctly sexed without the need to dissect the fish.

SIZE AND GROWTH

Unlike many of our less common species of fish, red morwong have been the subject of detailed studies on their age and growth. Overall growth rate is quite slow, with the average fish reaching only about 20cm long by an age of three years. By the age of six or seven years-old, most fish reach a length of about 35cm, after which they grow very little. Nevertheless, they continue to live for a long time, with the oldest fish aged estimated at 40 years-old.

SPORT AND EATING TRAITS
As mentioned, red morwong rarely take baits, but are nevertheless readily caught by another recreational method – spearfishing. In fact, the red mowie is regarded as one of the easiest fishes to spear since it pays little if any heed to divers. (For this reason, some concerns are held for the vulnerability of red morwong to overfishing). On the plus side, the red morwong is regarded as a very good eating fish whose firm flesh lends itself well to steaming or baking.

By Dr Julian Pepperell, as featured in Trailerboat issue 221