Argyrosomus japonicus

Argyrosomus japonicus is a silvery to bronze-green colored fish, a member of the family Sciaenidae, which may grow up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length. It is known as mulloway or jewfish on the east coast of Australia, butterfish in South Australia, kingfish or river kingfish in Western Australia,[1] and dusky/squaretail kob, Dusky Salmon, Salmon or kabeljou in South Africa. The name jewfish refers to its large otoliths, which are prized as "jewels" by some fishers.

Mulloway
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Actinopterygii
Order:
Perciformes
Family:
Sciaenidae
Genus:
Argyrosomus
Species:
A. japonicus
Binomial name
Argyrosomus japonicus

Description

Argyrosomus japonicus is a large, slender fish which can grow to 2 m (6 ft 7 in). It has a copper-colored head and is silvery with a bronze-green dorsal surface and paler belly. It has with a row of distinctive white spots running along the lateral line. The caudal fin is angular in juveniles but becomes more rounded in larger fish.[2]

Distribution and habitat

Argyrosomus japonicus has an Indo-Pacific distribution occurring in coastal waters surrounding Australia, Africa, India, Pakistan, China, Korea and Japan. Adults are gregarious and are found over soft bottoms mainly beyond the surf zone, occasionally going inshore. Juveniles are exclusively found in shallow water and sometimes move into estuaries.[3]

References
  1. "What's in a Name? (Bray & Gomon, 2019)". Fishes of Australia. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  2. "Mulloway, Argyrosomus japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)". Australian Museum. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
  3. "Argyrosomus japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843): Japanese meagre". FishBase. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.