Require assistance in identifying fish

[nickos]

Hi,

caught these fish last night under a pontoon but need help identifying the fish on the bottom. Any ideas? Could it be a Javelin fish or painted sweet lip? it has spots on the dorsal fin and tail. The color had a tint of light pink when it was caught. It put up an awesome fight! There was a lot of fresh around still in the canal and only got 2 bites resulting in 2 fish. i hope I can keep up that strike rate :cheer:

[jeff f]

that one has lots of names blackall, slate bream, painted sweetlips,mother in law fish

great eating if treated right and eaten fresh, doesn't freeze well

[Shane69]

I being caughting a few of them at curtain artificial

They called morwong

[bootyinblue]

Not sure about the morwong ID as they have quite deep V tails and not squared off like the pic.

I am going with slate bream

[taib]

slate bream. I have heard they call em morwongs up north though.

cheers

[Surfingant]

Just for future reference it is always good practice to release any fish you don't know the identity of, for not only possible legal reasons but also health reasons. If I don't know what I have caught then I certainly won't eat it, but it's turned out well so great catch

[battlescar]

Mowy straight up

[nickos]

Thanks guys!

[Jimmyjack]

not sure if they're morwong up north, think there might be a different morwong down south. Def called mother in law up north. Around CQ they're slatey bream and blackall around Sandy Strait/Maryborough/Hervey Bay. Good fighters and have bad rep for eating but are good when fresh. As Jeff says, don't freeze well. Most caught around the 1kg mark but bigger models common enough around 3-5kg. Big ones take some stopping on the reef.

[nickos]

Cheers mate. I have also read that they don't freeze well but by this time I had already frozen it for 1 night before I cooked it on the barbie. To my surprise it was actually very tasty.

[dansike]

Pretty sure its not a mowong, different tail shape. Is a slate bream the same as a Blubberlip bream? Looks similar?

[elops]

Diagramma labiosum

[ellicat]

Pretty sure its not a mowong, different tail shape. Is a slate bream the same as a Blubberlip bream? Looks similar?

Yep, It is commonly known as all of those things and more. Has more handles than the F word has uses