4 4.

4 Fishes
Ugu Lwethu - Our Coast. A profile of coastal KwaZulu-Natal
Suggested citation of this Section: Wanless, R. 2014. Coastal Birds. In: Goble, B.J., van der Elst, R.P . and Oellermann, L.K. (eds).
Ugu Lwethu – Our Coast. A profile of coastal KwaZulu-Natal. KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Environmental
Affairs and the Oceanographic Research Institute, Cedara, 76-79.

The KZN coast is blessed with a rich diversity of marine karanteen/strepie, sand steenbras and garrick/leervis. Even a
fish species. Estimates show that the southern African few southern ocean species are represented, a good example
1 3
fish fauna comprise at least 2200 species, and a large being the two-tone fingerfin. Endemic species comprise
percentage of these are found off the KZN coast. about 13% of the fish fauna and this is particularly prevalent
1
in the sea breams, gobies and catsharks. Endemicity
The richness of this fauna is a result of both the oceanography increases as one progresses south along the KZN coast,
of the region (Section 2.3) and the large diversity of marine largely as a result of the transition from a tropical Indo-Pacific
1; 2
habitats (Chapter 3). More than half the known fish fauna off biota to a more unique biota found in the subtropical Natal
KZN are Indo-Pacific species. This is greatly influenced by the Bioregion. The last group of fishes is the wide-ranging
warm Agulhas Current, which sweeps down our coast cosmopolitan species such as the dorado, prodigal son/cobia
allowing the southward distribution of more tropical species. and tunas.
The dominance of these tropical fish species is most evident in
the Maputaland region where Indo-Pacific species comprise
3
81% of the fauna. The next most abundant group is the deep- Rocky shores and surf-zone reefs
sea fishes living in dark, cold waters at great depths off the
1
continental shelf. A small number of species with an Atlantic Rocky shores (Section 3.7) are familiar to most South African
origin have also managed to reach the KZN coast, such as visitors to the coast, who have either played in rock pools or

Striped blenny hiding in a coral reef hole at Sodwana.

Photo: Camilla Floros

64 A profile of coastal KwaZulu-Natal

have tried their hand at shore angling. For the more species, estuarine round herring, riverbream/perch, spotted
adventurous, some may have even donned a mask and fins grunter, Natal and Cape stumpnose, springer and river
and snorkelled in subtidal gullies or on shallow subtidal reefs. snapper. In the higher reaches of some estuaries or during the
The intertidal rock pools serve as important nursery areas to a closed phase of temporally open/closed systems, freshwater
variety of species such as blacktail and zebra. Smaller species fish species such as Mozambique tilapia can commonly be
such as blennies, gobies and some damselfishes may remain found.
resident in rock pools, even as adults. In slightly deeper water
off rocky shores, the most common species include stone
bream, banded galjoen, pinky, flagtail, convict surgeons and Subtidal coral reefs
karanteen.
Restricted to the warm, clean waters of Maputaland, the coral
Juvenile catface rockcod and yellowbelly rockcod use shallow reefs in KZN exist as a thin veneer cemented to rocky reefs
surf-zone reefs as nursery areas. Because of their abundance (Section 3.8). The fish fauna associated with these reefs is
in these habitats, many of these species, along with the typical of true coral reefs found further north in the tropical
shad/elf (which migrate into KZN waters during the winter regions of the Western Indian Ocean. A huge diversity of fish
months), form the most important species caught by shore species are associated with these habitats; for example, nearly
anglers (Section 7.4). 1 200 reef-associated fish species have been recorded in the
3
Maputaland region.

Sandy shores and adjacent surf-zone Fish on coral reefs are dominated by, wrasses, surgeons,
damselfish, butterfly fish, angelfish, snappers, triggerfish,
Sandy shores are dynamic environments (Section 3.2), because parrotfish and rockcods. Some of the more noticeable top
of the large volume of sand movement that occurs on a daily predators on these reefs include species such as the potato
basis through wave action and longshore currents. As a result, bass, bohar snapper, green jobfish, swallowtail rockcod and
most fish species found in this habitat are not resident, but a variety of kingfish species.
adopt a more free ranging type of behaviour. Fish are also
generally less abundant in sandy habitats than on reefs due to
the lower abundance of food. Typical sandy surf-zone species Subtidal rocky reefs
include largespot pompano, southern pompano, Natal
stumpnose, lesser sandshark and sharpnose brown stingray. While similar in some respects to the fish fauna found in
Juvenile dusky sharks, dusky kob and garrick are important association with coral reefs, KZN’s rocky reefs (Section 3.8)
predators found in these surf-zone habitats. include a rich diversity of Indo-Pacific and endemic species.
The Sparidae, perhaps one of the most noticeable and
abundant of the fish families, dominate KZN’s deeper rocky
Estuaries reefs. Species that dominate rocky reefs from 20-100 m
include, slinger, soldier/santer, Englishman, blue hottentot
KZN’s estuaries contain a wide range of habitats within them, and German.
as outlined in Section 3.3. These habitats play an extremely
important nursery function for numerous marine fish The impact of over 100 years of fishing on KZN’s rocky reefs
species. However, due to the dynamic nature of estuarine has had a huge effect on the species composition and once-
environments, very few species have adapted to spawn in abundant predatory species, such as the seventy-four, red
estuaries, and most fish that are dependent on estuaries as steenbras, black musselcracker and scotsman are now greatly
5
nursery areas are spawned at sea and spend their first few reduced. When diving, a host of other fish species not
weeks or months at sea before recruiting into estuaries as traditionally caught on line will become apparent. Large
small juveniles. shoals of adult angelfish known locally as “old woman” and
red-fanged trigger fish often dominate the water column
The fish fauna associated with KZN estuaries is diverse, with above the reef, feeding on zooplankton. On the reef itself,
4 dominant species include Natal fingerfin, Natal and Cape
over 100 fish species recorded in Lake St Lucia. Typical fish
species associated with estuaries include a variety of mullet knifejaw, dusky rubberlips and tassel fish/baardman. If you are

Coastal and Marine Species 65

4 Photo: Jade Maggs Photo: Jade Maggs

Black musselcracker, a powerful predator found on subtidal reefs. Flagtail, a small shoaling species found in subtidal gullies.

lucky you may get to see the rare and range-restricted Natal is found that has only recently been explored. Here there are
wrasse. Smaller fish such as the ubiquitous clouds of goldies, huge shoals of pinkies and sand soldier, as well as the cutlass
striped grunter, brown surgeons, a variety of damselfish and fish, gurnards, lizardfish, goatfishes and numerous species of
9
small wrasses dominate the reef fish communities by number. soles.

Subtidal soft substrata (mud and sand) Open ocean and pelagic habitat

Our knowledge of these habitats (Section 3.9) comes largely This is by far the largest habitat on Earth, occupying over 70%
6; 7
from the by-catch of trawl nets (Section 8.2) In areas such as of the Earth’s surface. The pelagic habitat is divided into the
the Thukela Banks, down to a depth of 50 m, the fish fauna is in neritic zone (over the continental shelf ) and the oceanic
some respects similar to our estuarine fish fauna, as these zone beyond the continental shelf. This is the domain of the
areas also function as important nursery habitats. Small silver nomadic and migratory fishes that roam the oceans in search
fish species are dominant, including soapies, slimies bonies of food, ranging from tiny anchovies, sardines and flying fishes
and pinkies. A number of sciaenid and haemulid species such which feed on plankton in the water column, to the great
as the mini-kobs, blackmouth croaker, snapper kob, juvenile ocean predators such as tunas, billfishes (Istiophoridae) and
squaretail kob, spotted grunter and javelin grunter are also sharks.
6
common in this habitat.
The pelagic habitat off the KZN coast has the full spectrum of
A large number of different elasmobranch species are also both tropical and warm temperate species. KZN is well known
found on the shallow Thukela Banks, including species such as for its abundance of sharks, as outlined in Section 4.6. Other
juvenile scalloped hammerhead sharks, sand sharks and a large pelagic fish sometimes encountered off the KZN coast
6
variety of stingrays. The deeper trawl grounds (300-600 m include species such as the manta rays and ocean sunfish.
deep) produce a different assemblage of fishes. This area is
dominated by species seldom seen, including rat-tails, Relatively little is known about the fish assemblages found at
8
greeneyes, fatheads, coffin fish and splitfins. continental shelf edges, slopes and canyons (100-2000 m).
The powerful Agulhas Current has limited most attempts to
The deep-water elasmobranchs are mainly represented by the fish and/or dive in these deep habitats. However, the few
spiny dog shark and a variety of small skates. Away from the deep dives (>100 m) that have been made by trimix divers
muddy shallow and deep crustacean trawl grounds, there are off Sodwana Bay, and a limited number of dives made with
large areas of sandy seabed, where a different fish community submersibles and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), have

66 A profile of coastal KwaZulu-Natal

 Copyright:
This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational or non-profit purposes
without special permission from the copyright holder, provided that acknowledgement of the
source is made. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial
purpose whatsoever without prior written permission from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of
Agriculture and Environmental Affairs and the Oceanographic Research Institute.
Photo: Camilla Floros Photo: Jade Maggs

Slinger, commonly found on rocky reefs. Pinky, found in large shoals over sand and reef.

revealed a surprisingly rich fish fauna living on the 3000 m in KZN), away from the landmasses and their
continental shelf edge and upper slope. One of the more continental shelves.
recent and exciting discoveries was that of the ancient
coelacanth found living in canyons off Sodwana Bay, detailed Very little is known about the fish fauna found in these depths.
in Section 4.5. Although large, these habitats are in perpetual darkness,
exposed to great pressure and extreme cold. As a consequence,
Sparids such as trawl soldiers and even slinger, scotsman, fish found at these depths tend to be adapted and often of
soldier/santer, seventy-four and red steenbras have been seen bizarre shapes and sizes. Many are scaleless and black in colour
or caught at depths below the shelf break (100-200 m). Reef with only rudimentary eyes. Huge jaws with razor-sharp teeth
fish species such as the white-edged rockcod and large and rows of luminous organs assist these fish in their hunt for
2
yellowbelly rockcod have also been caught at these depths. food. Typical abyssal fishes include tripod fishes, macrourids,
1
ophidiids, halosaurs, liparidids and zoarcids.
Game fish species including the dogtooth tuna, longfin
yellowtail and greater yellowtail have been caught at these It has been said that we probably know more about the
depths off the KZN coast using a method known as vertical surface of the moon than we know about the great depths
10
jigging. Wreckfish, gorgeous swallowtail and numerous of our oceans.
species of scorpaenids have also been observed from
submersibles and ROVs operating at depths of 100-200 m.
The rich diversity of marine fish species found off the
Typical inhabitants of the shelf slope deeper than 200 m KZN coast is reason enough to want to ensure their
include rat-tails, chlorophthalmids, notacanthids, halosaurs future protection and custodianship. As has happened
11
and chimaeras. There are also massive shoals of tiny mid- elsewhere in the world, KZN’s marine fishes have
water fishes called myctophids (lantern fishes), which suffered from a wide range of human-induced impacts,
migrate vertically up and down in the water as day and ranging from overfishing to pollution, sedimentation
1
night alternate. and habitat destruction. It is only through sustainable
use, careful habitat protection management and the
establishment of a network of well-sited, and well-
Bathyal and abyssal zones (>2000 m) managed MPAs (Section 10.4) that the future of KZN’s
fishes can be assured.
After the pelagic zone, this is the next biggest habitat
on earth and comprises the great depths of all oceans (>2000-

Coastal and Marine Species 67