Tuskfish - Purple

Dispatch Method:

Beware of the sharp teeth of all tuskfish when handling them. The eating qualities of these fish can be 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:

• A relatively small but pretty, greenish-brown tuskfish. Creamy-white below with scattered apricot coloured scales ventrally, and blue-edged scales on the flanks. Some individuals with an orange blotch in front of the dorsal fin with darker blotches posteriorly on the flanks from behind the pectoral fin to upper part of the caudal peduncle.
  
• Head purplish with many small orange spots on cheeks, blue streaks around the eye, and forehead and jaw crossed by 4 or 5 sets of alternating blue and orange stripes.
  
• Feeds mostly on hard-shelled prey including crabs, molluscs and sea urchins.

Fish Distribution:

• Purple tuskfish occur throughout the central tropical and warm temperate Indo- West Pacific region from Indonesia to the Philippines, south to Papua New Guinea, and tropical Australia from Western Australia to Sydney in New South Wales.
  
• This species frequents inshore seagrass areas, algal or rocky reefs, and coral rubble patches at depths between 5 and 80 meters. Juveniles are occasionally found in estuaries.

Fish Size Common Length:

20-30 cm (8-12 inches), maximum size around 38 cm (18 inches) and 1 kg (2.2 lb).