Dispatch Method:

Beware of the sharp dorsal and anal spines of bluespotted seabream when handling them. The eating qualities of these fish can be greatly improved by killing them humanely by iki jime or a firm knock to the head before placing them in an ice slurry after bleeding.

Fish Description:

• Bluespotted seabream are silvery white in colour, with a brownish/black vertical bar across the eyes and numerous vertically elongate blue spots on the snout and cheek and sometimes on the operculum .
  
• Their eye is relatively large and the mouth is relatively small and the fins are clear to yellow or reddish, caudal fin sometimes dusky brown.
  
• Like other members of the emperor family, this species feeds mainly on crabs, shrimps, bivalves and other benthic invertebrates.

Fish Distribution:

• Bluespotted seabream occur throughout many parts of the Indo-West Pacific, from southern Japan, throughout the South China Sea, Timor Sea, west to the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean, as far south as northern Australia and as far east as Fiji and New Caledonia.
  
• This species occurs over sandy and rubble bottoms in clear coastal lagoon habitats as well as offshore near rock and coral reefs.

Fish Size Common Length:

30-35 cm, maximum size around 45 cm and 2 kg.