Largehead Hairtail, Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus, 1758

Scientific name: Trichiurus lepturus
Alternative name/s:
Australian Hairtail, Cox's Hairtail, Cutlass-fish, Hairtail, Northern Hairtail, Ribbonfish
  • Author(s)
    Mark McGrouther
  • Updated
    29/03/21
  • Read time
    2 minutes
Largehead Hairtail, Trichiurus lepturus Click to enlarge image
A Largehead Hairtail at a depth of 7 m, Looking Glass, Broughton Island, Port Stephens, Great Lakes Marine Park, New South Wales, December, 2007. Image: David and Leanne Atkinson
© David and Leanne Atkinson

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Genus
    Trichiurus
    Species
    lepturus
    Family
    Trichiuridae
    Order
    Perciformes
    Class
    Actinopterygii
    Subphylum
    Vertebrata
    Phylum
    Chordata
    Kingdom
    Animalia
  • Size Range
    The species grows to about 1.2 m in length.

Introduction

Fourteen species of cutlassfishes and hairtails, in seven genera are known from Australian waters. These images show a hairtail, most likely a Largehead Hairtail photographed on the central New South Wales coast.

Identification

The Largehead Hairtail has a elongate, compressed body that tapers to a pointed tip. There is no caudal fin. It has a large mouth with barbed fangs on the jaws. There are over 130 dorsal fin elements. In life, the fish is steel blue to silver coloured, which makes it very difficult to photograph underwater due to reflection from the camera flash.

Largehead Hairtail, Trichiurus lepturus
A Largehead Hairtail at a depth of 7m, Looking Glass, Broughton Island, Port Stephens, Great Lakes Marine Park, New South Wales, December, 2007. Image: David and Leanne Atkinson
© David and Leanne Atkinson

Habitat

The species occurs in tropical and temperate continental shelf and slope waters from inshore to a depth of at least 350 m

Distribution

The Largehead Hairtail has a circumglobal distribution. It is known from all states of Australia.

The map below shows the Australian distribution of the species based on public sightings and specimens in Australian Museums. Click on the map for detailed information. Source: Atlas of Living Australia.

Distribution data sourced from the Atlas of Living Australia

Feeding and diet

Young fish feed primarily on crustaceans but older fish are piscivorous, preying on a range of pelagic fish species.

Economic impacts

The species is a good eating fish that is sometimes sold at the Sydney Fish Market.

References

  1. Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & G.R. Allen. 2006. Fishes. in Beesley, P.L. & A. Wells. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 35. ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Australia. parts 1-3, pages 1-2178.
  2. Nakamura I. & N.V. Parin. 1993. Snake mackerels and cutlassfishes of the world (Families Gempylidae and Trichiuridae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the snake mackerels, snoeks, escolars, gemfishes, sackfishes, domine, oilfish, cutlassfishes, scabbardfishes, hairtails and frostfishes known to date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis No. 125 (15). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome. 136 Pp.