Biology
Species | Notolabrus fucicola |
Common Name | Purple Wrasse |
Importance | Key |
Habitat | Predominantly on exposed reefs |
Depth | ≤ 90 m (Edgar, 2008) |
Distribution | New Zealand and Australian waters, from southern New South Wales to Kangaroo Island (SA) (Edgar, 2008) |
Diet | Molluscs and crustaceans (Denny and Schiel, 2001) |
Stock Structure | No information available |
Movement | Site-attached, with no evidence of territorial behaviour. Movements between reefs is limited and likely to be restricted to a small proportion of the population (Barrett, 1995b) |
M (Natural Mortality) | 0.2 (low adult mortality for both species, estimated for N. tetricus) (Barrett, 1995b; Smith et al., 2003) |
Maximum Age (years) | 24 (Welsford, 2003) |
Unsexed K (von Bertalanffy growth parameter) | 0.85 |
Unsexed t0 (age (years) when length = 0) | -3.23 |
Unsexed L∞ (asymptotic von Bertalanffy length (fork length; cm)) | 44.7 |
Length (FL; fork length (cm))– Weight (W; g) Relationship | W=0.0161L^3.0407 (Barrett, 1995b; Welsford, 2003) |
Size at Maturity (length (fork length; cm) at which 50% of population are sexually mature) | 18.41 (females) |
Age at Maturity (age (years) at which 50% of population sexually are mature)) | 3 (females) Barrett, 1995a; Harwood, and Lokman, 2006) |
Sexual development | Gonochoristic |
Spawning Season | August – January |
Additional Spawning Information | Batch fecundity is estimated at 74500 ± 34900 eggs/kg (Barrett, 1995b) |
Early Life History | Planktonic larval duration ranges from 40 – 87 days; settlement on reefs at around 10.4 mm (Welsford, 2003) |