Bluefin trevally
Caranx melampygus
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A brassy trevally peppered with small blue-black dots and finished with electric-blue fins that look lit from inside. It hunts fast along reef edges, often in pairs, and will come straight at a diver to see what has been stirred up.
how to recognise it
- electric-blue second dorsal, anal and tail fins
- numerous blue and black spots on the sides
- a tapered snout
don’t confuse with
- Giant trevally — the giant trevally has a steep blunt head, no blue fins and no body spots
- Island trevally — the island trevally has a FEW LARGE elliptical yellow spots, not many small blue-black ones
- Golden trevally — the golden trevally's spots are black blotches on a silvery-grey body
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 120 cm TL; 15 kg.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~50 cm, to 120 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (120 cm TL; 15 kg); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 514 at 7 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Bougainville Reef (Coral Sea), Rowley Shoals (WA), Seychelles (Aldabra), Brothers Islands (Egypt), Alimatha (Maldives), Malpelo (Colombia), Flinders Reefs (Coral Sea). A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
- deepest record
- 20 m
The deepest occurrence record near these spots. This is NOT the species depth range.
when it has been recorded
JFMAMJJASOND
A gap means no record in the sample, not absence.
the rule
QLD — None · Combined limit: 20 in total of all trevally species
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.