Golden trevally
Gnathanodon speciosus
Illustration: Bloom by Day
Silvery grey with scattered black blotches as an adult, and unmistakably bright yellow with black bars as a youngster. The young ones shadow sharks, turtles and big fish for protection, and will happily adopt a diver for the length of a dive.
how to recognise it
- adults are silvery grey with black spots or blotches scattered on the sides, and often faint bands
- juveniles are bright yellow with narrow blackish bars, the first one through the eye
- often schools around sharks and other larger fishes — juveniles "pilot" them, and small ones shelter among jellyfish tentacles
don’t confuse with
- Giant trevally — the giant trevally has a steep blunt head and no scattered black spots
- Silver trevally — silver trevally has a diffuse dark spot on the top of the gill cover and no body spots
- Bluefin trevally — the bluefin has electric-blue second dorsal, anal and tail fins and many small blue and black spots
- Island trevally — the island trevally's spots are a few large elliptical YELLOW ones on the midside
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 120 cm TL.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~60 cm, to 120 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (120 cm TL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 293 at 4 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Magnetic Island — Geoffrey Bay, Dunwich Jetty (N Stradbroke — Bay), Delambre Island (Dampier WA), Flinders Reefs (Coral Sea). A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
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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.