Yellow-eyed Mullet

How to identify yellow-eyed mullet

A slender, silvery fish with a greenish to bluish or olive-grey back, a pale underside and a pointed head and snout. The bright yellow eye is the easiest way to identify it. There are two dorsal fins, the first tall with four obvious spines, and the tail is weakly forked. The large scales come off easily. Small yellow-eyed mullet can be confused with grey mullet or smelt; grey mullet have a thick fleshy eyelid and no yellow eye.

Where it lives in New Zealand

Yellow-eyed mullet are found from North Cape to Stewart Island, and also in southern Australia and Norfolk Island. They are rarely far from the coast, schooling in sheltered harbours, estuaries, river mouths and along beaches over sand and mud. They can move several kilometres up rivers and live year-round in Lake Ellesmere. Older fish prefer deeper, saltier water, while juveniles sometimes enter fresh water. They leave estuaries to spawn at sea, mainly from late December to mid-March.

How to catch it

Yellow-eyed mullet are one of the easiest fish to catch off wharves and in harbours, and are a common first catch for children. Small hooks baited with bread, flour dough or small pieces of bait work well on light line. Commercially they are mostly taken by set net, and much of the catch is used as bait.

Eating

Yellow-eyed mullet are small but edible, with firm flesh. Most are used as bait, and they are a good live or cut bait for larger species such as kahawai and snapper. They can be fried whole once scaled and gutted, or smoked.

Good to know

Managed under the Quota Management System since 1998. They mature at 2 to 3 years and about 22 to 23 cm, and the maximum recorded age is 7 years. Yellow-eyed mullet eat algae, small crustaceans, molluscs, worms and detritus. They are often wrongly called herring in New Zealand.

Questions

Is yellow-eyed mullet the same as herring?

No. Yellow-eyed mullet are often wrongly called herring in New Zealand, but they are a mullet (family Mugilidae), not a true herring. Look for the bright yellow eye, pointed snout and slender silvery body with large, loose scales.

What is the best bait for yellow-eyed mullet?

Bread or flour dough on small hooks works well, as do small pieces of bait on light line. Yellow-eyed mullet feed on algae, small crustaceans, molluscs and worms, so keep baits tiny. Wharves and sheltered harbours are the easiest places to find them.

Can you eat yellow-eyed mullet?

Yes. They are small but edible, with firm flesh. Scale and gut them, then fry them whole or smoke them. Most anglers use them as bait instead, as live or cut bait for larger species such as kahawai and snapper.