Hundreds of critically endangered red handfish hatched in Hobart

The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies has run the largest captive breeding event ever for baby red handfish.

Transcript

00:00These little fish have a big job ahead.

00:05They're red handfish, endemic to Tasmania and critically endangered.

00:10Less than 100 individuals are estimated to remain in the wild.

00:14You don't really want to be starting captive breeding programs for threatened species.

00:19It's you know, you're getting towards the last resort.

00:21Red handfish only breed once a year.

00:25This season tripled the number of captive fish in the handfish conservation program.

00:29It's rewarding for the whole team that we've been able to produce what we think in one

00:35breeding season, double the population of what we think still persists in the wild.

00:40It's been a learning process.

00:42In the previous two breeding seasons, only 33% of fertilised eggs hatched, compared to

00:4870% this year.

00:50There's no manual for red handfish.

00:53They're not that robust in captivity.

00:56The tiny hatchlings, no bigger than a pea, will eventually be released into the wild

01:00here in south east Tasmania.

01:03Before then, they'll need to go through handfish school, a conditioning program that will train

01:07them to survive and thrive in the wild.

01:10But for now, they've got some growing up to do.

01:13The conservation team hopes to release some of the fish next year, when they're 12 months

01:17old and one centimetre long.

01:20Majority of them will go to the wild, hopefully survive and reproduce themselves.

01:25And hopefully in future years, it's not 100 being put back, but it's more like a thousand

01:30or more each year.

01:31So that's what we need, that's what we hope to do.

01:35Growing the population is only half the challenge, with habitat degradation remaining a key threat.

01:41That's the other part of the puzzle here, trying to increase the number of animals that

01:44we have in captivity, trying to restore the habitat so that we have somewhere safe to

01:49put the animals back.

01:50A big step forward in saving one of Tasmania's smallest creatures.

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