Black jewfish
Protonibea diacanthus
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A dark grey-bronze jewfish, heavier-looking than a mulloway and noticeably narrower through the tail wrist. It holds on structure in turbid coastal water and river mouths, and the schools return to the same spawning ground year after year.
how to recognise it
- a narrower tail base than the mulloway, and darker colouring — Fishes of Australia gives those two as the separators
- found in estuaries and coastal water over muddy bottoms, rocky reefs and other structure
- grows fast and large: 60 cm in about two years, to 150 cm
don’t confuse with
- Mulloway — the mulloway is paler and has pearly-white spots along the lateral line and a broader tail base
- Teraglin — the teraglin has a black blotch at the pectoral base and bright yellow inside the mouth
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 150 cm SL.
facts
- habitat
- estuary
- size
- ~90 cm, to 150 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (150 cm SL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 6 at 3 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Magnetic Island — Geoffrey Bay, Redcliffe Jetty, Gantheaume Point (Broome). A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
JFMAMJJASOND
A gap means no record in the sample, not absence.
the rule
QLD — Min: 75cm · Limit: 2 per person, or 4 per boat (with 2 or more people on board)
source
· verified 2026-10-10
no NSW rule listed — check before you dive
no closed season recorded for this species — that is not the same as open; check the official page
Rules checked 2026-10-13 against qld.gov.au
Rules change. Check before you dive.
Occurrence data: Atlas of Living Australia (ala.org.au), CC-BY 4.0.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.