Silver Drummer

Fascinating facts about the Silver Drummer

• A silver drummer can grow up to 80 cm long and weigh up to 1.1 kg.
• The silver drummer’s dorsal fin has a spiny front section that is more than half as long again as the soft-rayed rear, and it contains 10-11 spines followed by 11-12 soft rays.
• The fish’s lateral line has between 52 and 66 scales, of which 42-56 are pored.
• The silver drummer relies on a highly vascularised gut chamber where microbes ferment brown algae such as Ecklonia radiata, allowing the fish to digest phaeophytes.
• First described in 1886 by Albert Günther from a specimen at Port Jackson, this species now spans from Shark Bay to Fraser Island in Australia and reaches New Zealand’s North Island, mapping a coastal range that mirrors the southern temperate reefs it calls home.

At a glance

About the Silver Drummer

The silver drummer (Kyphosus sydneyanus) cuts a striking figure along the rocky reefs of southern Australia and New Zealand. Its body, oval to nearly circular in side view, is capped with a sloping head profile that bulges subtly above the eyes. A continuous dorsal fin runs the length of its back, the spiny front half more than half as long as the softer rear section, bearing 10-11 spines and 11-12 soft rays; the anal fin adds 2-3 spines and 10-12 soft rays. Its silvery-grey to olive ground colour deepens above, lightening below, while a dark margin fringes the caudal fin and a reddish-brown bar sweeps from the upper jaw over the operculum. A pale bar beneath the eye and a tiny black spot at the ventral base of the pectoral fin complete the pattern, and the fish can grow to 80 cm and 1.1 kg.

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