Squaretail Mullet

Fascinating facts about the Squaretail Mullet

• Imagine a fish that can travel 10 km (6.2 miles) upriver before the tide’s pull gives up – the squaretail mullet pushes that far into freshwater, showing how versatile coastal species can be.
• Spotting six dark longitudinal stripes on a silvery flank is like reading a barcode on a fish; those stripe-forming scale edges give the mullet a subtle chequered look that sets it apart from its grey-mullet cousins.
• From the Red Sea to southern Japan, this mullet spans a large portion of the Indo-Pacific.
• Juvenile mullets gather in mangrove thickets and even rice paddies, where they feed on phytoplankton, algae, and detritus.
• While the adults head offshore to spawn, their eggs drift freely in the water column and do not adhere to anything.

At a glance

About the Squaretail Mullet

The squaretail mullet, Ellochelon vaigiensis, glides through tropical waters cloaked in an olive-brown back that fades to silvery flanks and a pale belly. Six subtle longitudinal stripes trace its sides, the darkened edges of each scale forming a faint checkerboard that catches the light, while a yellow-tinged iris and dark-margined fins add a splash of colour. In juveniles the pectoral fins are entirely black, turning yellowish with age, and the caudal fin remains a vivid yellow, a striking beacon against the muted body tones. In the mangrove-lined lagoons and estuaries of the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea and East African coast to New Caledonia, the Great Barrier Reef, and as far north as southern Japan, these mullets form bustling schools. They venture up freshwater streams as far as ten kilometres inland, yet they rarely stray beyond the tidal reach. Their diet is a mixed buffet of phytoplankton, algae, and detritus, harvested as they skim the surface. Spawning takes place at sea, where buoyant eggs drift freely, never adhering to substrate. A surprising habit emerges in the juveniles, which are frequently found not only among mangroves but also in rice paddies, exploiting human-altered habitats with the same ease as natural ones, hinting at an adaptability that few mullets possess.

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