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Old Wife
Enoplosus armatus (White, 1790)
An Old Wife at a depth of 10 m, at the Gravel Loader, Bass Point, Shellharbour, New South Wales, July 2004. Photo © S. Schulz. View larger image.
A school of Old Wife at a depth of 10 m, at the Gravel Loader, Bass Point, Shellharbour, New South Wales, July 2004. Photo © S. Schulz. View larger image.
A 19.5 mm long juvenile Old Wife, caught by P. Geraghty and S. Deveney at a depth of about 1 m, Jervis Bay, Australian Capital Territory, August 2004. Photo: Mark McGrouther © Australian Museum. View larger image.
X-ray image of an Old Wife from the Australian Museum fish collection (AMS I.19602-005). Photo: J. King © Australian Museum. View larger image.
The Old Wife is easily recognised by its distinctive shape and colouration. It has a deep body, and two separate dorsal fins, the second being sickle-like.
The body is silver-white to brown and has six to eight black bands of variable width.
Juveniles are more elongate than adults and have a blotched colour pattern and a white-rimmed spot on the soft dorsal fin.
The dorsal fin spines of the Old Wife contain a venom which can cause severe pain.
Adults are common on coastal reefs, often seen as solitary individuals or in pairs, but will also form large schools. Juveniles live in estuaries.
This species grows to 25 cm.
The Old Wife was given its rather derogatory name in reference to the sound it makes by grinding its teeth after it is caught.
Enoplosus armatus is the only species in the family Enoplosidae.
The Old Wife is endemic to Australia. It is found in southern waters from southern Queensland to south-western Western Australia.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Related links
- View a low resolution movie clip (50k) of this species.
- Go to the movies page for high and low resolution versions.
Further reading
- Glover, C.J.M. in Gomon, M.F., C.J.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Swainston Publishing. Pp. 180.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-Eastern Australia. Crawford House Press. Pp. 437.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
