Goldenline whiting
Sillago analis
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A clean pale whiting with a golden stripe low along the side and yellow pelvic and anal fins, and no blotches anywhere. It works very shallow sand and tidal flats, often in a few inches of water over a dropping tide.
how to recognise it
- a dull golden-silver to golden-yellow stripe along the side, BELOW the lateral line
- pale to bright yellow pelvic and anal fins
- fine blackish-brown spots scattered on the pectoral fins
- pale dusky-silvery above, silvery below, with no blotches
don’t confuse with
- Sand whiting — the sand whiting has no golden stripe — it is plain silvery with yellow pelvic and anal fins
- Trumpeter whiting — the trumpeter whiting has irregular dark blotches along the side and a black spot at the pectoral base
- Northern whiting — the northern whiting has a silver side stripe rather than a golden one, and no yellow in the pelvic and anal fins
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts.
facts
- habitat
- sand
- size
- ~25 cm, to null cm
Bluebird, approximate - not from a cited source
- records
- 90 at 13 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Dunk Island (Mission Beach), Magnetic Island — Geoffrey Bay, Pioneer Rocks (Whitsundays), Jew Shoal (Sunshine Coast), Bray Rocks (SC), Kings Beach (Caloundra), Woorim Beach (Bribie Is. — East), Pumicestone Passage (Bribie — West), Redcliffe Jetty, Point Lookout (N Stradbroke), Cylinder Beach (N Stradbroke), Amity Point (N Stradbroke — Bay), Dunwich Jetty (N Stradbroke — Bay). 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 — Min: 23cm · Combined limit: 30 in total of sand, goldenline and northern whiting
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.