General Description

Body elongate, dorsal and anal fins followed by 5-6 detached finlets; tail base without fleshy lateral keels; teeth pointed, upper jaw with 3-4 fang like teeth at front and row of smaller triangular teeth laterally. Steel blue on back, silvery below, first dorsal fin black, margins of soft dorsal and pectoral fins black. To 1.4 m.

Biology

These voracious predators are commonly seen in large schools. They feed on krill and small schooling fishes. The species was the focus of early fisheries along the Victorian and Tasmanian coasts.

Distribution

Southern Hemisphere. Southern Australia.

Habitat

Warm temperate waters, usually at the surface when inshore, sometimes entering estuaries and open bays, to depth of 120 m.

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