Trumpeter whiting
Encyclopedia
The trumpeter whiting, Sillago maculata, (also known as the winter whiting or diver whiting) is a common species of coastal marine fish
of the smelt-whiting family, Sillaginidae
. The trumpeter whiting is endemic to Australia
, inhabiting the eastern seaboard from southern New South Wales
to northern Queensland
. The species is found in bay
s, estuaries, coastal lake
s and mangrove
creeks on silt
y and mud
dy substrates in waters ranging from 0 to 30 m deep, occasionally inhabiting sand
y and seagrass
beds.
The trumpeter whiting is a benthic carnivore
, consuming a variety of crustaceans, polychaete
s and molluscs, with a dietary shift occurring as the mature and move into deeper waters. The species spawn
s during summer, with young fish often penetrating into estuaries and seagrass beds.
The species is highly sought after by both recreational
and commercial fishermen, with the fish highly regarded as a table food. The trumpeter whiting has two close relatives, the oriental trumpeter whiting
and the western trumpeter whiting
, which can be easily confused with S. maculata.
in the genus
Sillago
, which is one of three genera in the smelt-whiting family
Sillaginidae
. The smelt-whitings are Perciformes
in the suborder Percoidea
.
The species was first scientifically described by the Quoy and Gaimard in 1824 from specimen
s collected from the waters of Sydney Harbour in New South Wales
, Australia
. A specimen from this location was also designated to be the holotype
. The species was subsequently redescribed under the name of Sillago gracilis by Alleyne and Macleay in 1877, which is a junior synonym and has been discarded under the ICZN
rules. Roland McKay, whilst working on a revision of the sillaginids, found there to be three closely related species of 'trumpeter whiting'; the western trumpeter whiting
, the oriental trumpeter whiting
and the trumpeter whiting which he interpreted to be subspecies
. He therefore assigned the trumpeter whiting the name Sillago maculata maculata to clarify its subspecies status, doing similar for the other two species. However, soon after publishing, more specimens came to light which validated giving the three subspecies full species status, and the trumpeter whiting once again returned to the binomial Sillago maculata.
The common name
of the species, trumpeter whiting, refers to the grunting sound the fish makes when first taken from the water, with a number of other species of unrelated fish also known to do this. The names 'winter' and 'diver' whiting are in reference to the high catches made in winter by amateur fishermen and the depth at which larger individuals of the species inhabit respectively.
As with most of the genus Sillago, the trumpeter whiting has an slightly compressed, elongate body tapering toward the terminal mouth. The body is covered in small ctenoid scales
, including the two rows of cheek
scales. The first dorsal fin
has 11 spines and the second dorsal fin has 1 leading spine with 19 to 20 soft rays posterior. The anal fin is similar to the second dorsal fin, but has 2 spines with 19 to 21 soft rays posterior to the spines. Other distinguishing features include 71 to 75 lateral line
scales and a total of 34 to 36 vertebrae. The species has a known maximum length of 30 cm and a maximum recorded weight of 216 grams.
The swimbladder has a short anterior median extension and two anterolateral extensions present, with a complex network of tubular canals that rejoin the swimbladder at four locations anteriorally. Lateral extensions reach to the duct like process present on the ventral surface of the swimbladder.
The body is a sandy brown to olive green colour above, while the sides and lower body are a silvery brown to cream-white hue. The head is dark olive brown to greenish above, while the cheeks and opercles
are golden-green, with a dark blotch on the opercle of some individuals. The trumpeter whiting is usually easy to distinguish by its characteristic dark brown irregular blotches present on the side of the fish, as well as a golden silver longitudinal
band. The spinous dorsal fin is whitish , with a mottled olive green and brown texture. The soft dorsal fin has about five rows of brownish green spots. The anal and ventral fins are golden to yellow with cream margins, while the pectoral fins are yellow to pale yellow-green, with a distinct black-blue spot at the base. The caudal fin is olive brown to a darkish green-brown with darker margins.
, inhabiting the eastern seaboard
from Narooma
in New South Wales
up to Lizard Island in Queensland
. Fossil otolith
s found in New Zealand
indicate the trumpeter whiting or one of its closely related species was present in New Zealand until sometime in the late Pleistocene
.
The species prefers silt
y and mud
dy substrates in the deeper water of bay
s, but also inhabits deep sandy areas, with a study by Burchmore et al. suggesting a seasonal move between these two substrates in Botany Bay
, New South Wales
. They are frequently found in the mouths of river
s, estuaries, coastal lakes
and mangrove
creeks. It is known from a depth range of 0 to 50 m. The juveniles are most abundant in estuaries and shallow water during the summer months, where they occupy sand and seagrass beds before moving into deeper water as they mature.
s during their adult life, and like other sillaginids undergo a change in diet
as they grow older. Juveniles are often considered to not be benthic, as they feed on a variety of planktonic prey, with mysids, amphipods and rarely polychaete
s the main prey. They also prey on a variety of meiobenthos
, with copepod
s the predominant form taken. Once they reach over 10 cm in size, they move into deeper water where they prey predominantly on polychaetes, bivalves, ophiuroidea and brachyura.
Studies have also shown there is variation in the diet depending on geographical location and to a lesser extent, season.
at a length of 19 cm in both sexes, having an extended period of reproductive development from October to April. Reproductive development of males and females was synchronized, with a peak in February and high levels of maturation in December. Running-ripe fish are present every month except June, but are most abundant in December and February.
The species spawn
s on sand
y beach
es in sheltered bays, lakes and estuaries in relatively shallow water. Juveniles
remain in these shallow water environments from 1-3 m depth, often penetrating into the upper reaches of estuaries.
The juveniles have been observed to occupy small burrow
s on shallow sand flats, sitting at the entrance and retreating into the burrow as danger approaches. Whether they excavate these burrows themselves or hijack them from other organisms is unknown.
, having softer flesh
than most other Australian species of sillaginid. The species is commonly targeted by both commercial and recreational fishermen. Large amounts of the species are taken by prawn trawlers and seine
netters in bays, with catches in Moreton Bay
alone exceeding 200 tonnes per year, and the catch much higher for the entire fishery
. The fish are marketed fresh, with trawled fish being bruise
d and don't fetch as high a price as netted fish.
Recreational fishermen take large quantities of the species during winter predominantly, although they are present year round in most areas. Large catches are possible, with rigs kept as light as possible to avoid spooking the fish. Simple running sinker
rigs using a size 6 - 2 hook, on 2 - 3 kg lines are commonly used, occasionally with red tubing employed as an attractant. Bait
consists of the species natural prey such as prawn
s or bass yabbies, bivalves, a variety of marine worms, as well as bait such as squid
. There are currently no size or bag restrictions on the trumpeter whiting anywhere in its range.
Coastal fish
Coastal fish, also called offshore fish or neritic fish, are fish that inhabit the sea between the shoreline and the edge of the continental shelf. Since the continental shelf is usually less than 200 metres deep, it follows that pelagic coastal fish are generally epipelagic fish, inhabiting the...
of the smelt-whiting family, Sillaginidae
Sillaginidae
The Sillaginidae, commonly known as the smelt-whitings, whitings, sillaginids, sand borers and sand-smelts, are a family of benthic coastal marine fishes in the order Perciformes. The smelt-whitings inhabit a wide region covering much of the Indo-Pacific, from the west coast of Africa east to Japan...
. The trumpeter whiting is endemic to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, inhabiting the eastern seaboard from southern New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
to northern Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. The species is found in bay
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...
s, estuaries, coastal lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
s and mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
creeks on silt
Silt
Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
y and mud
Mud
Mud is a mixture of water and some combination of soil, silt, and clay. Ancient mud deposits harden over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone . When geological deposits of mud are formed in estuaries the resultant layers are termed bay muds...
dy substrates in waters ranging from 0 to 30 m deep, occasionally inhabiting sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
y and seagrass
Seagrass
Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , all in the order Alismatales , which grow in marine, fully saline environments.-Ecology:...
beds.
The trumpeter whiting is a benthic carnivore
Carnivore
A carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
, consuming a variety of crustaceans, polychaete
Polychaete
The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. Indeed, polychaetes are sometimes referred to as bristle worms. More than 10,000...
s and molluscs, with a dietary shift occurring as the mature and move into deeper waters. The species spawn
Spawn (biology)
Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...
s during summer, with young fish often penetrating into estuaries and seagrass beds.
The species is highly sought after by both recreational
Angling
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...
and commercial fishermen, with the fish highly regarded as a table food. The trumpeter whiting has two close relatives, the oriental trumpeter whiting
Oriental trumpeter whiting
The oriental trumpeter whiting, Sillago aeolus, is a widely distributed species of benthic inshore fish in the smelt-whiting family. The species ranges from east Africa to Japan, inhabiting much if the southern Asian and Indonesian coastlines. Its morphology is very similar to other species within...
and the western trumpeter whiting
Western trumpeter whiting
The western trumpeter whiting, Sillago burrus, is a species of marine fish of the smelt whiting family Sillaginidae that is commonly found along the northern coast of Australia and in southern Indonesia and New Guinea...
, which can be easily confused with S. maculata.
Taxonomy and naming
The trumpeter whiting is one of 29 speciesSpecies
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Sillago
Sillago
Sillago is one of three genera in the family Sillaginidae containing the smelt-whitings, and contains 29 species, making Sillago the only non-monotypic genus in the family. Distinguishing among Sillago species can be difficult, with many similar in appearance and colour, forcing the use of swim...
, which is one of three genera in the smelt-whiting family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Sillaginidae
Sillaginidae
The Sillaginidae, commonly known as the smelt-whitings, whitings, sillaginids, sand borers and sand-smelts, are a family of benthic coastal marine fishes in the order Perciformes. The smelt-whitings inhabit a wide region covering much of the Indo-Pacific, from the west coast of Africa east to Japan...
. The smelt-whitings are Perciformes
Perciformes
The Perciformes, also called the Percomorphi or Acanthopteri, is one of the largest orders of vertebrates, containing about 40% of all bony fish. Perciformes means perch-like. They belong to the class of ray-finned fish and comprise over 7,000 species found in almost all aquatic environments...
in the suborder Percoidea
Percoidea
Percoidea is a superfamily of fish of the order Perciformes....
.
The species was first scientifically described by the Quoy and Gaimard in 1824 from specimen
Specimen
A specimen is a portion/quantity of material for use in testing, examination, or study.BiologyA laboratory specimen is an individual animal, part of an animal, a plant, part of a plant, or a microorganism, used as a representative to study the properties of the whole population of that species or...
s collected from the waters of Sydney Harbour in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. A specimen from this location was also designated to be the holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
. The species was subsequently redescribed under the name of Sillago gracilis by Alleyne and Macleay in 1877, which is a junior synonym and has been discarded under the ICZN
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals...
rules. Roland McKay, whilst working on a revision of the sillaginids, found there to be three closely related species of 'trumpeter whiting'; the western trumpeter whiting
Western trumpeter whiting
The western trumpeter whiting, Sillago burrus, is a species of marine fish of the smelt whiting family Sillaginidae that is commonly found along the northern coast of Australia and in southern Indonesia and New Guinea...
, the oriental trumpeter whiting
Oriental trumpeter whiting
The oriental trumpeter whiting, Sillago aeolus, is a widely distributed species of benthic inshore fish in the smelt-whiting family. The species ranges from east Africa to Japan, inhabiting much if the southern Asian and Indonesian coastlines. Its morphology is very similar to other species within...
and the trumpeter whiting which he interpreted to be subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
. He therefore assigned the trumpeter whiting the name Sillago maculata maculata to clarify its subspecies status, doing similar for the other two species. However, soon after publishing, more specimens came to light which validated giving the three subspecies full species status, and the trumpeter whiting once again returned to the binomial Sillago maculata.
The common name
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
of the species, trumpeter whiting, refers to the grunting sound the fish makes when first taken from the water, with a number of other species of unrelated fish also known to do this. The names 'winter' and 'diver' whiting are in reference to the high catches made in winter by amateur fishermen and the depth at which larger individuals of the species inhabit respectively.
Description
Scale (zoology)
In most biological nomenclature, a scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection. In lepidopteran species, scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, and provide coloration...
, including the two rows of cheek
Cheek
Cheeks constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. They may also be referred to as jowls. "Buccal" means relating to the cheek. In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve...
scales. The first dorsal fin
Dorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...
has 11 spines and the second dorsal fin has 1 leading spine with 19 to 20 soft rays posterior. The anal fin is similar to the second dorsal fin, but has 2 spines with 19 to 21 soft rays posterior to the spines. Other distinguishing features include 71 to 75 lateral line
Lateral line
The lateral line is a sense organ in aquatic organisms , used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water. Lateral lines are usually visible as faint lines running lengthwise down each side, from the vicinity of the gill covers to the base of the tail...
scales and a total of 34 to 36 vertebrae. The species has a known maximum length of 30 cm and a maximum recorded weight of 216 grams.
The swimbladder has a short anterior median extension and two anterolateral extensions present, with a complex network of tubular canals that rejoin the swimbladder at four locations anteriorally. Lateral extensions reach to the duct like process present on the ventral surface of the swimbladder.
The body is a sandy brown to olive green colour above, while the sides and lower body are a silvery brown to cream-white hue. The head is dark olive brown to greenish above, while the cheeks and opercles
Operculum (fish)
The operculum of a bony fish is the hard bony flap covering and protecting the gills. In most fish, the rear edge of the operculum roughly marks the division between the head and the body....
are golden-green, with a dark blotch on the opercle of some individuals. The trumpeter whiting is usually easy to distinguish by its characteristic dark brown irregular blotches present on the side of the fish, as well as a golden silver longitudinal
Anatomical terms of location
Standard anatomical terms of location are designations employed in science that deal with the anatomy of animals to avoid ambiguities that might otherwise arise. They are not language-specific, and thus require no translation...
band. The spinous dorsal fin is whitish , with a mottled olive green and brown texture. The soft dorsal fin has about five rows of brownish green spots. The anal and ventral fins are golden to yellow with cream margins, while the pectoral fins are yellow to pale yellow-green, with a distinct black-blue spot at the base. The caudal fin is olive brown to a darkish green-brown with darker margins.
Distribution and habitat
The trumpeter whiting is endemic to AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, inhabiting the eastern seaboard
Seaboard
Seaboard is a synonym for coast.Seaboard can also refer to:* Seaboard, North Carolina* Seaboard Corporation, an international agribusiness company...
from Narooma
Narooma, New South Wales
Narooma is a town in the Australian state of New South Wales on the far south coast. The town is on the Princes Highway. The name is said to be derived from the Aboriginal word meaning ‘clear blue waters’. At the 2006 census, Narooma had a population of 3,100 people.Montague Island, a National...
in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
up to Lizard Island in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. Fossil otolith
Otolith
An otolith, , also called statoconium or otoconium is a structure in the saccule or utricle of the inner ear, specifically in the vestibular labyrinth of vertebrates. The saccule and utricle, in turn, together make the otolith organs. They are sensitive to gravity and linear acceleration...
s found in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
indicate the trumpeter whiting or one of its closely related species was present in New Zealand until sometime in the late Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
.
The species prefers silt
Silt
Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
y and mud
Mud
Mud is a mixture of water and some combination of soil, silt, and clay. Ancient mud deposits harden over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone . When geological deposits of mud are formed in estuaries the resultant layers are termed bay muds...
dy substrates in the deeper water of bay
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...
s, but also inhabits deep sandy areas, with a study by Burchmore et al. suggesting a seasonal move between these two substrates in Botany Bay
Botany Bay
Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. They are frequently found in the mouths of river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s, estuaries, coastal lakes
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
and mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
creeks. It is known from a depth range of 0 to 50 m. The juveniles are most abundant in estuaries and shallow water during the summer months, where they occupy sand and seagrass beds before moving into deeper water as they mature.
Diet
Trumpeter whiting are benthic carnivoreCarnivore
A carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
s during their adult life, and like other sillaginids undergo a change in diet
Diet (nutrition)
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...
as they grow older. Juveniles are often considered to not be benthic, as they feed on a variety of planktonic prey, with mysids, amphipods and rarely polychaete
Polychaete
The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. Indeed, polychaetes are sometimes referred to as bristle worms. More than 10,000...
s the main prey. They also prey on a variety of meiobenthos
Meiobenthos
Meiofauna are small benthic invertebrates that live in both marine and fresh water environments . The term Meiofauna loosely defines a group of organisms by their size, larger than Microfauna but smaller than Macrofauna, rather than a taxonomic grouping...
, with copepod
Copepod
Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,...
s the predominant form taken. Once they reach over 10 cm in size, they move into deeper water where they prey predominantly on polychaetes, bivalves, ophiuroidea and brachyura.
Studies have also shown there is variation in the diet depending on geographical location and to a lesser extent, season.
Life cycle
Trumpeter whiting reach sexual maturitySexual maturity
Sexual maturity is the age or stage when an organism can reproduce. It is sometimes considered synonymous with adulthood, though the two are distinct...
at a length of 19 cm in both sexes, having an extended period of reproductive development from October to April. Reproductive development of males and females was synchronized, with a peak in February and high levels of maturation in December. Running-ripe fish are present every month except June, but are most abundant in December and February.
The species spawn
Spawn (biology)
Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...
s on sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
y beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
es in sheltered bays, lakes and estuaries in relatively shallow water. Juveniles
Juvenile (organism)
A juvenile is an individual organism that has not yet reached its adult form, sexual maturity or size. Juveniles sometimes look very different from the adult form, particularly in terms of their colour...
remain in these shallow water environments from 1-3 m depth, often penetrating into the upper reaches of estuaries.
The juveniles have been observed to occupy small burrow
Burrow
A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the...
s on shallow sand flats, sitting at the entrance and retreating into the burrow as danger approaches. Whether they excavate these burrows themselves or hijack them from other organisms is unknown.
Relationship to humans
Trumpeter whiting are considered to be good quality fish for consumptionIngestion
Ingestion is the consumption of a substance by an organism. In animals, it normally is accomplished by taking in the substance through the mouth into the gastrointestinal tract, such as through eating or drinking...
, having softer flesh
Flesh
In vertebrate animals, flesh is the colloquial for biological tissue which consists of skeletal muscles and fat as opposed to bones, viscera and integuments. Flesh may be used as food, in which case it is called meat....
than most other Australian species of sillaginid. The species is commonly targeted by both commercial and recreational fishermen. Large amounts of the species are taken by prawn trawlers and seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
netters in bays, with catches in Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay is a bay on the eastern coast of Australia 45 km from Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources...
alone exceeding 200 tonnes per year, and the catch much higher for the entire fishery
Fishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...
. The fish are marketed fresh, with trawled fish being bruise
Bruise
A bruise, also called a contusion, is a type of relatively minor hematoma of tissue in which capillaries and sometimes venules are damaged by trauma, allowing blood to seep into the surrounding interstitial tissues. Bruises can involve capillaries at the level of skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscle,...
d and don't fetch as high a price as netted fish.
Recreational fishermen take large quantities of the species during winter predominantly, although they are present year round in most areas. Large catches are possible, with rigs kept as light as possible to avoid spooking the fish. Simple running sinker
Sinker (fishing)
A fishing sinker or knoch is a weight used in conjunction with a fishing lure or hook to increase its rate of sink, anchoring ability, and/or casting distance. Fishing sinkers may be as small as 1/32 of an ounce for applications in shallow water, and even smaller for fly fishing applications, or as...
rigs using a size 6 - 2 hook, on 2 - 3 kg lines are commonly used, occasionally with red tubing employed as an attractant. Bait
Fishing bait
Fishing bait is any substance used to attract and catch fish, e.g. on the end of a fishing hook, or inside a fish trap. Traditionally, nightcrawlers, insects, and smaller bait fish have been used for this purpose...
consists of the species natural prey such as prawn
Prawn
Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
s or bass yabbies, bivalves, a variety of marine worms, as well as bait such as squid
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
. There are currently no size or bag restrictions on the trumpeter whiting anywhere in its range.