Common Name: Sea Mullet

Distribution: Abundant seasonally in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed worldwide in coastal waters of tropical, subtropical and temperate zones of all seas. In Australia recorded from south Western Australia near Esperance, north to around Broome, from the Torres Strait south along the east and southern coast to South Australia and including Tasmania.

Ecological Notes: Frequent coastal waters, often entering estuaries and rivers, sometimes to upper reaches. Usually in schools, depth to 10 m.

Additional Notes: Silver body with broad tail, dark pectoral fin. Seasonally migrate up the east coast where they are targeted in a specialised beach netting fishery. Adults feed on detritus, microalgae and benthic organisms, juveniles feed on zooplankton. Adults form large schools and migrate offshore to spawn, developing larvae migrate back inshore. Grows to 100 cm, usually 50 cm. 

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.54.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=mugil+cephalus. Accessed 20/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Mugil-cephalus.html. Accessed 20/06/18.