Common Name: Clouded Saury

Distribution: Common throughout the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: from Mauritius to the Society Islands, north to the Hawaiian Islands, south to Sydney in New South Wales. In Australia recorded from northern Queensland south to central New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequents offshore and estuarine areas where it lies camouflaged on the sand or mud substrate. Has a preference for river mouths and mangrove or eelgrass areas. Depth to 100 m, usually 2 – 60 m.

Additional Notes: Can be best recognised by the dark blotches below the dorsal fins, and the rows of teeth that protrude onto the lips, see lower photograph, which is a characteristic of the genus Saurida. Feeds primarily on small fishes. Grows to 17 cm. 

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.46.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=saurida+nebulosa. Accessed 06/07/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/saurida-nebulosa.html. Accessed 06/07/18.