Silver Biddy
Also known as:
Common Silverbelly
Silver-belly
Silverbelly
Silverbiddy
Slender mojarra
Common Group Name:
Silverbiddies
Family Name:
Gerridae
Genus Name:
Gerres
Species Name:
Gerres subfasciatus
Dispatch Method:
The various species of silver biddies found in Australian estuaries and inshore areas have similar brain locations to the common silver biddy. They should be killed humanely by iki jime, or in an ice slurry, or by a knock to the head.
Fish Description:
- These fish have silver coloured bodies and highly protrusible jaws. The dorsal fin is long based with the anterior spines longer than those in the rest of the fin.
- Both jaws can protrude out and down forming a tube which is used to suck up sand or mud when the fish feeds on bottom-dwelling invertebrates.
Fish Distribution:
- This species occurs in estuaries and shallow coastal waters throughout the tropical Indo-West Pacific region.
- In Australia they can be encountered from south Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country, and along the entire east coast to southern New South Wales.
Fish Size Common Length:
10-15 cm, maximum size around 25 cm.
For assistance with identifying fishes, see fishesofaustralia.net.au. For information on size and bag limits, check out the website of your State Fisheries Department.
We thank fishesofaustralia.net.au and Australia's various Fisheries Departments for some of the thumbnail images used to assist with fish identification on this website and its applications, as licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia. Thanks also to Michigan State University and Georgia Aquarium for generous donation of xrays of some US fish species.
