Yellow-eye Mullet

Fascinating facts about the Yellow-eye Mullet

• Between December and March the yellow-eye mullet releases up to 680,000 eggs, turning the coastal waters into a floating nursery; that many potential new fish could fill a small school in a single spawning run, showing how a single adult can fuel the entire population each year.
• Most individuals usually reach 30–40 cm (12–16 in), and females grow faster and larger than males.
• These fish can be found from the surface down to 50 m (160 ft) but prefer staying above 10 m (30 ft), meaning they spend most of their lives in the sunlit zone where predators like dolphins and orcas can easily spot them.
• Living in shallow bays and estuaries, they often filter sand along with food, and ingesting sand helps grind food in their stomach muscles.
• Although they are prized as bait for larger game, the adult mullet’s flesh is also harvested for caviar and can be sold fresh, smoked, or dried.

At a glance

About the Yellow-eye Mullet

The yellow-eye mullet (Aldrichetta forsteri) is a sleek, near-shore fish that typically measures 30–40 cm, its body a gradient of olive-blue-brown above and shimmering silver below, capped with striking bright yellow eyes that seem to glow in the shallow surf. Its two dorsal fins, first with four spines, second with one spine and nine rays, are edged in brown, and its tiny, delicate scales cling loosely, slipping away with the slightest touch. In the temperate waters stretching from just north of Sydney, New South Wales, across southern Australia to Shark Bay in Western Australia, and around Tasmania and New Zealand, these mullets favor bays, ports, and estuaries, lingering near the surface in depths of 0–50 m, most often above 10 m, where water temperatures hover between 14 °C and 24 °C, tolerating up to 28 °C. They form shimmering shoals, feeding omnivorously on sea-floor debris, algae, crustaceans, diatoms, molluscs, insect larvae, polychaetes, coelenterates and even fish eggs, often filtering sand to aid digestion. A surprising trait is their role as the premier bait fish; freshly caught mullet fillets, oozing blood and juice, are irresistible to larger predators, making them a linchpin in local fisheries. Their life cycle spans up to seven years, with females maturing faster and larger, spawning up to 680,000 eggs between December and March, though winter spawning has also been reported.

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