Wahoo
Acanthocybium solandri
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A long blue-green torpedo with a pointed beak of a snout and 24 to 30 narrow cobalt bars down its side — bars that vanish within minutes of the fish dying. One of the fastest fish in the sea; usually it is already past before you register it.
how to recognise it
- 24 to 30 cobalt-blue vertical bars running down past the lateral line
- iridescent bluish-green above, silvery sides, white below
- the bars fade fast once the fish is dead, so a fish on the deck looks plainer than one in the water
- a long slender body and a long narrow snout
don’t confuse with
- Spanish mackerel — the Spanish mackerel has wavy grey bars rather than many narrow blue ones, and a shorter snout
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 210 cm TL.
facts
- habitat
- pelagic
- size
- ~130 cm, to 210 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (210 cm TL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records near here
- 5 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: 75cm · Limit: 2
source
· verified 2026-10-10
NSW — no size limit · 5
source
· verified 2026-10-01
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.