Gnathanodon speciosus

Family: Carangidae, a family of ray-finned fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, and scads. The family contains many important commercial and game fish, notably the Pacific jack mackerel.

Size: 120 cm

Weight: Up to 15 kg

Distribution: See range map. West to the Red Sea, north to Japan, east to Panama, south to (very approximately) Sydney and the northern tip of New Zealand.

Status: Least concern

Habitat: The golden trevally predominantly occupies inshore waters of varying substrate, although is known to occur on deeper continental shelf reefs in Australia. In coastal areas the species inhabits rocky and coral reefs as well as open sand flats where it forages for food. A systematic study in northern Australia indicated it to be one of the only species to be approximately equally distributed in both reef and soft-bottom habitats. Golden trevally appear to prefer clear water to turbid waters.

References: Edgar, Stuart-Smith et. al, Wikipedia.

About the Golden Trevally

The golden trevally is distinguishable from other trevallies by its protrusible and rubbery mouth, and its unique colouration, which ranges from bright yellow with black bars as a juvenile to a golden-silvery colour as an adult. The golden trevally schools as a juvenile, often closely following larger objects including sharks and jellyfish.

Weight: Up to 15 kg

Diet: The species uses its protractile jaws to suck out prey from the sand or reef, and consumes a variety of fish, crustaceans and molluscs.

Economics: The golden trevally is a considerable constituent of several Middle Eastern fisheries and being of minor importance to many others, with a worldwide annual catch of 1187 t to 3475 t ('t' means metric tonnes, one t = 1000 kilograms) recorded between 2000 and 2010. The golden trevally is a popular gamefish, taken by bait, lure, fly and also spear throughout its range. Several Asian countries currently farm the fish in caged aquaculture. Due to their brilliant colouration, juveniles are popular in marine aquaria.

Golden Trevally - Gnathanodon speciosus
Photo taken at Sydney Aquarium, Sydney, NSW, Australia. High Resolution 3340 x 2160.