Fish Identification Key

Live Whiting

Description:

• Creamy yellow upper part; silvery on lower part
• No spots or blotches on body
• Cheeks have conspicuous yellow blotch
• First dorsal spine is white at base

Live Fingermark Golden Snapper

Description:

• Body has bronze to silvery sheen, shading to silvery white on belly and underside of head
• Back has round black spot/saddle that is larger than the eye
• Back has round black spot/saddle that is larger than the eye
• Scales have reddish-brown spot often in centre of each scales, giving an overall appearance of horizontal lines on the body

Live Mangrove Jack

Description:

• Back and sides are greenish-brown to reddish
• Long snout
• Belly is slightly red to bronze with white edges on scales
• Sides of juveniles have a series of about eight whitish bars
• One or two blue lines on the cheeks of juveniles
• Long canine teeth

Live Yellowfin Bream

Description:

• Silvery bronze body
• Pelvic, anal and ventral part of caudal fins (particularly the spines and soft rays) are yellowish and whitish, sometimes with black areas
• Lateral line with dark blotch at origin
• Pectoral fins have a dark spot at upper base

Live Pikey Bream

Description:

• Grey sides and fins
• Dorsal and anal fins have very stout spines
• Usually 20-30cm in length, maximum size around 60cm

Live Flathead (Catch & Release)

Description:

• The top of the head and body is whitish and covered with small brown flecks; may have several indistinct dark bands across back
• Dorsal, pectoral and pelvic fins have small brown spots on rays
• The caudal fin has two or three horizontal dark bars, a prominent yellow blotch near the middle fin, whitish areas in upper lobe and lower margin

Live Grunter (Catch & Release)

Description:

• Adults have golden-green back, silvery belly with traces of brown vertical bars present only when alive
• Head is slightly convex
• Dorsal fins are spinous with spots indistinct or absent and a deep notch between the first and second
• Juveniles have brilliant silvery green back, golden silver sides, silvery white belly and 12 more faint vertical bars
• Lower tip of the caudal fin on juveniles is white

Live Barramundi (Catch & Release)

Description:

• Silver, olive-grey or grey-blue black
• Brown to golden eyes with bright red reflective glow
• No markings on fins
• Juveniles are brown to greyish brown with three white stripes on the head and scattered white patches on the sides

Salmon King Threadfin (Catch & Release)

Description:

• Bluish-silver back, whitish belly (during some seasons the belly surface is flushed with yellow)
• Dorsal, anal and caudal fins are blackish
• Pectoral fins, pelvic fins and pectoral filaments are whitish and yellow.

Salmon Blue Threadfin (Catch & Release)

Description:

• Back and head are silvery green or silvery blue, and silvery white or yellowish white in older fish
• Fins are grey and may have yellow or orange tinge
• 4 pectoral filaments are white or creamy

Red Emperor

Description:

• Juveniles and young adults have broad dark red bands which cover the point from top of spiny dorsal fin onwards
• Bars fade with age and fish become pink-red all over
• Dark edges with fine white margin may still be visible on dorsal, anal and top and bottom of tail fins
• Each scale carries a white dot

Snapper

Description:

• Head and upper body are red-brown
• Sides and belly are silvery
• Upper sides have numerous small bright blue spots especially prominent in juveniles
• Fins are red or faint red
• Caudal fin has white lower margin

Redthroat Emperor Sweetlip

Description:

• Bright red to orange coloration on spiny dorsal fin, base of pectoral fin, around eye and inside mouth

Spanish Mackerel

Description:

• Numerous thin, wavy vertical bands on body (number of bars increases from as few as 20 in a 40 cm specimen, to as many as 65 in a 150 cm specimen)
• Iridescent blue-grey back
• Silver sides with bluish reflections; juveniles frequently spotted

Cobia Black Kingfish

Description:

• Back and sides dark brown
• Two sharply defined narrow silvery bands (not as prominent in dead specimens)
• Yellowish belly
• First dorsal fin has seven to nine (usually right) short but strong isolated spines, not connected by a membrane

Coral Trout

Description:

• Covered in a profusion of small blue dots over body and all fins except pectoral fins
  • Transparent pectoral fins
  • Distinctive blue ring around the eye

Largemouth Nannygai

Description:

• Crimson all over
• Dark saddle blotch becomes less distinct with age
• Different from crimson snapper (small-mouth Nannygai) in having a bigger mouth

Black Jewfish

Description:

• Grow to around 45kg and 1.5 metres long
• Slight inward curve on forehead
• Small black spots on the upper half of the body
• Do not have a black spot at the base of the pectoral fins