Snubnose garfish
Arrhamphus sclerolepis
Illustration: Bloom by Day
The Queensland garfish: olive-green over silver with a bright stripe down the side, and a SHORT lower jaw where the other garfish carry a needle. It hangs just under the surface in creeks, bays and estuary channels in loose schools.
how to recognise it
- a SHORT lower jaw — no needle beak, which is the whole point of the name
- dull olive-green above with a whitish to silvery belly
- a silvery stripe down the middle of the side, sometimes with several broken stripes above it
- the lower jaw is relatively longer in juveniles than in adults
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts.
facts
- habitat
- estuary
- size
- ~25 cm, to null cm
Bluebird, approximate - not from a cited source
- records
- 1 at 1 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Woorim Beach (Bribie Is. — East). A count of occurrence records, 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
no QLD rule listed — check before you dive
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.