Northern whiting
Sillago sihama
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A clean honey-to-sand coloured whiting with a silver stripe down the side and, unlike the trumpeter, no dark spot at the pectoral base. It works shallow sand and tidal flats in small groups and drifts ahead of you rather than bolting.
how to recognise it
- NO dark blotch at the pectoral-fin base — which is what separates it from the trumpeter whiting
- light tan, silvery yellow-brown, sandy brown or honey coloured, paler below, with a silver stripe down the middle of the side
- dusky dorsal fins, with or without rows of dark brown spots on the second dorsal membranes
- often a whitish margin on the anal fin
don’t confuse with
- Sand whiting — the sand whiting HAS a dark blotch at the pectoral-fin base and yellow anal and pelvic fins
- Trumpeter whiting — the trumpeter whiting has irregular dark blotches along the side and a black spot at the pectoral base
- Goldenline whiting — the goldenline has a golden stripe along the side below the lateral line and bright yellow pelvic and anal fins
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 31 cm TL.
facts
- habitat
- sand
- size
- ~22 cm, to 31 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (31 cm TL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records near here
- 1 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
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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.