About Ellochelon vaigiensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)
The squaretail mullet, Ellochelon vaigiensis, has an olive-brown back, silvery flanks, and a white or yellowish belly. Six longitudinal stripes run along its sides, formed by darker markings on the scales that also have darkened edges, giving the flanks a subtle chequered look. The iris has yellow patches. Most fins have a mainly yellowish base color with contrasting dark margins, while the caudal fin is distinctly yellow. In smaller squaretail mullet, the pectoral fin is entirely black, but the lower portion of the fin turns yellowish as the fish ages.
This mullet is distributed from the Red Sea and the East African coast, south to Mozambique, eastward through the Indo-Pacific to New Caledonia and the Great Barrier Reef, and north to southern Japan.
Squaretail mullet inhabit lagoons, estuaries, sheltered sandy shorelines, and coastal creeks. They can enter freshwater, and have been recorded up to 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) upstream in rivers, though they typically do not move further inland than the area affected by tides. They can form large groups within mangroves; juveniles are often found in rice paddies and mangroves. Their diet consists of phytoplankton, algae, and detritus. They spawn at sea, and their eggs are pelagic, meaning they do not stick to objects.
