Green jobfish
Aprion virescens
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A long, cylindrical, dark green-blue snapper with a deeply forked tail and a groove in front of the eye. It cruises above the reef rather than in it, alone, and tends to make one slow pass at a diver before carrying on.
how to recognise it
- a distinct horizontal groove in front of the eye
- dark green to bluish or bluish-grey, paler below
- a slender cylindrical body with a deeply forked tail
- black blotches on the spiny part of the dorsal fin
- large canine teeth and large diamond-shaped scales, those on the back lying parallel with the lateral line
don’t confuse with
- Red bass — the red bass has the same nostril-to-eye groove but is a heavy-bodied REDDISH snapper, and is no-take in Queensland for ciguatera
- Smalltooth jobfish — the smalltooth jobfish is silvery purplish-brown with dark gill-cover margins, and has no groove in front of the eye
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 112 cm TL / 15.4 kg.
facts
- habitat
- pelagic
- size
- ~70 cm, to 112 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (112 cm TL / 15.4 kg); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records near here
- 3 at 1 of 6 spots
A count of occurrence records near these spots, 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: 38cm · Limit: 5
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.