Silver Trevally

Fascinating facts about the Silver Trevally

• A silver trevally can stretch to 1.2 m (just under 4 ft) and tip the scales at 18 kg (40 lb), yet most anglers catch ones only 35-60 cm long and weighing under 2.5 kg, showing how size varies wildly across its life.
• They can live up to 25 years and become sexually mature between two and four years of age.
• A single female can lay between 50,000 and 200,000 eggs in one season.
• First recorded by Georges Cuvier in 1833 from a catch at King George Sound, the silver trevally was long mistaken for its anti-tropical cousin P. dentex, highlighting how subtle differences can hide whole species in plain sight.
• From the chilly bays north of Sydney down to the reefs around Tasmania and out to New Zealand, they roam coastal waters as deep as 200 m (660 ft), proving they’re adaptable residents of both shallow estuaries and open-sea shelves.

At a glance

About the Silver Trevally

The silver trevally, Pseudocaranx georgianus, is a sleek, elongated jack that glides through southern Australian and New Zealand waters with a striking palette: a bluish-silver upper side, a bright silver belly, and a subtle yellow-silver flank, punctuated by a tiny black blotch on the bony gill cover. Growing up to 1.2 m and 18 kg, most individuals are more modest, ranging 35–60 cm and 0.4–2.5 kg, and can live as long as 25 years. Its two dorsal fins, paired detached spines, and deeply forked tail give it a classic carangid silhouette, while its compressed body enables rapid bursts of speed when chasing prey or evading predators. Juveniles linger in sheltered bays, estuaries, and the shallow continental shelf, whereas adults favor larger bays, inlets, and open reef or sandy-gravel substrates down to 200 m, often patrolling rocky coastal zones. Spawning unfolds over an extended spring-to-autumn window, with females releasing 50,000 to 200,000 eggs in estuarine and deeper waters. Sexual maturity arrives between two and four years.

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