Description
Also known as the Flathead Grey Mullet. This tropical / subtropical fish grows to a maximum length of 50cm averaging around 30cm-35cm. Large specimens are found to weigh as high as 4kg! Juveniles usually found to be around 15cm to 20cm. They have an irregularly round silver body with a dark bluish green back with longitudinal stripes on their sides and a small mouth. They have a lifespan of around 7-8 years if left in peace, with a more probable lifespan of around 5 years!
Habitat
These fish span salty water to fresh water usually in warm waters from 8°C to 24°C ranging from 0m to 120m depth! They spend most of their time close to shore around stream and river estuaries or sheltered bays and inlets and lagoons with sandy or muddy bottoms.
Feeding
This marvelous fish’s diet includes zooplankton, bottom dwelling organisms, dead plant and animal material aswell as small invertebrates. They in turn are prey for larger fish in the food chain, turtles, water snakes, birds. For this reason and others these fish tend to school together for all the daylight hours and feed around the clock.
Life History
They reach sexual maturity at three years with a mating season that lasts for three months in the summer of the Mediterranean. The sexually mature of the species school together and swim offshore to mate. Spawned eggs are not guarded by the adults with females spreading more than 6-7 million eggs on the sea bottom. After an incubation period of 36-50 hours amazingly the fish hatch! Juvelines return to coastal areas to reach maturity when they have reached a size of around 2-3cm!
Dive Site Encounters
Coming at a dive site near you…
(Chance of Encounter Red > 0.8 Yellow > 0.2)
