victoria Bream Age And Size

[faulked]

DID YOU KNOW: It can take up to NINE YEARS* for black bream to reach the minimum legal size of 26cm, another very good reason to return all undersize or unwanted bream safely to the water. Bream may live as long as 20 years and approximate growth rates* are:

1 year - 9cm

2 years - 14cm

3 years - 18cm

4 years - 21cm

5 years - 22cm

6 years - 23cm

7 years - 24cm

8 years - 25cm

26cm - Minimum Legal Size

9 years - 26cm

10 years - 30.5cm

12 years - 33cm

16 years - 36.5cm

20 years - 38.75cm

*Data from studies carried out by the Central Ageing Facility at the Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute, Queenscliff.

Post edited by: faulked, at: 2007/06/06 07:29

[Cowfish13]

They're really old fish, so we usually don't take them. But legal size is 23cm.

[faulked]

i had no idea how old they really were im just not tacking any any more unless theyre bleeders:(

[Cowfish13]

Dolphin fish grow 30cm in the first mont and reach full size in 4 years

[werewolf]

black jew apparently grow super fast, over a metre in the first year

[Eoghan]

On 06/06/2007 at 10:26 PM, faulked said:

DID YOU KNOW: It can take up to NINE YEARS* for black bream to reach the minimum legal size of 26cm, another very good reason to return all undersize or unwanted bream safely to the water. Bream may live as long as 20 years and approximate growth rates* are:

1 year - 9cm

2 years - 14cm

3 years - 18cm

4 years - 21cm

5 years - 22cm

6 years - 23cm

7 years - 24cm

8 years - 25cm

26cm - Minimum Legal Size

9 years - 26cm

10 years - 30.5cm

12 years - 33cm

16 years - 36.5cm

20 years - 38.75cm

*Data from studies carried out by the Central Ageing Facility at the Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute, Queenscliff.

Post edited by: faulked, at: 2007/06/06 07:29

Can you send me the link? Trying to prove to someone that a 40cm bream is 20yrs old

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

19 minutes ago, Eoghan said:

Can you send me the link? Trying to prove to someone that a 40cm bream is 20yrs old

Hey @Eoghan

Welcome to the forum. I doubt you'll get the link off the original poster - this topic is more than ten years old. 

Here is a report from Fisheries which will help - 

https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/76181/yfb-factsheet.pdf

Cheers Hamish

[Daryl McPhee]

That information is for black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri) which does not occur in Queensland. Our species is the yellowfin bream (Acanthopagrus australis). 

Here is dome information that I have previously published: 

"The yellowfin bream belongs to the Family Sparidae. There are about 155 species in the Family with a further four species encountered in Queensland being the snapper, fryingpan snapper, tarwhine and the pikey bream of more northern waters.

Most coastal areas of the world have at least one species of sparid fish present. Globally, important recreational species in the family include the white steenbra of southern Africa, the common dentex of the Mediterranean and surrounding waters, and the sheepshead which is found in the western Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Brazil and is most abundant in Florida.

The yellowfin bream is endemic to the Australian east coast – meaning that is the only coastal region in the world where the species occurs. They are found in a variety of coastal habitats including throughout river systems, along all the coastal foreshores of Moreton Bay, the surf zone and around rocky headlands.

Let’s look at the likely movements of adult yellowfin bream in a given year.

While they can be found anywhere, from October to April they tend to be in the rivers and creeks (or at least adjacent to them) feeding in these diverse and highly productive habitats. The condition of the fish in October tends to be poor and they use to be referred to as “razorbacks” when I was teenager at Sandgate. If there is substantial rain over the summer period they do end up highly dispersed, but they still tend to be more abundant in around the rivers and creeks. The spawning period for yellowfin bream in Moreton Bay is centred around the winter months (with a peak in July to August), with spawning occurring at, or adjacent to, surf bars. As the day length shortens the fish from May onwards are stimulated to commence their migration to their main spawning locations, although they may have already moved downriver for example in the Brisbane River and the Pine River in March/April. They do not leave the rivers and creeks en-masse and not all fish participate in the migration so there are some fish available in the rivers and creeks all year round. It is likely that some fish go back and forth to the principal spawning locations during the winter from adjacent areas. Whether the proportion of adult fish participating in the annual spawning migration varies between years is unknown.

Yellowfin bream do not readily utilise the more open expanses of Moreton Bay and tend to hug the shoreline and this is where they can be targeted. When fishing the shorelines you are fishing along their migratory path. Unlike sea mullet, yellowfin bream feed along the way and their energetic needs are likely to be higher, hence they are hungry and will readily take a bait.  Why do they migrate to the surf bars? By spawning on the flood tide, they maximise the dispersal of larvae throughout the system. It is a good breeding strategy. Most post larvae enter the estuary at night during the full moon on the flood tide, and the transition from planktonic animal to a juvenile fish which occurs from August to November when the fish are 13-14 mm total length. From September onwards, most of the spawning bream are heading back to the river and creeks. 

Much of the early work on the reproductive biology of yellowfin bream in Moreton Bay was undertaken by Dr Barry Pollock who grew up on Redcliffe Peninsula. The reproductive biology of yellowfin bream is complex, involving a form of sequential hermaphroditism called protandrous (male first) sex inversion. This is not uncommon among fish species, and it is an approach which can maximise the reproductive output of a population.

Yellowfin bream possess an ovotestes in which the testis and ovary occur in separate zones within the same individual. Most juveniles become functional males, but a small proportion of juveniles develop directly into functional females (primary females). Protandrous sex inversion commences after the fish mature when male fish change into female fish; however, some fish remain as males (primary males) throughout their life. The upshot of all this is that most small adult fish are males and most large adult fish are females.

Yellowfin bream are thought to become mature as males between 17.5–20.5 cm fork length. The minimum legal size of 25 cm total length allows over 50% of fish to spawn once which is a standard benchmark when setting a minimum legal size.

The age of most species of fish, including yellowfin bream, can be estimated by examining otoliths (ear bones). Yellowfin bream are relatively slow growing, but not as slow growing as their cousin the black bream which is found in southern NSW and Victoria. There is substantial variation in how old a yellowfin bream is for a given size. For example, age estimates by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries identify that a 30 cm yellowfin bream would likely be seven years of age, but it could quite likely be as young as four or as old as twelve. Six year old yellowfin bream comprise the most common age group harvested by recreational fishers. Overall, fish in the four to ten year old age groups account for the majority of the harvest (86%).

It is fair to say that yellowfin bream are highly opportunistic in what they eat and this is well known to anglers who can use a myriad of baits or lures to catch them. Their natural diet though is highly dependent on their habitat at the time. For example, the diet of fish in mangrove and saltmarshes is dominated by shore crabs while terrestrial animals such as insects, spiders and lizards are also consumed."

 

[Laydup]

Ummmm. Yes, well just caught a 42.5cm Bream!! MF is the size of a fish normally caught offshore... This Bream 20+ years, ohh well, im not releasing this one! Probably won't taste the best either.