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(Click for large pic. 33Kb)
The Wolf Herring takes its name from the remarkable and characteristic array of projecting fang like teeth that arm the jaws; it is a brilliantly silvery, ribbon bodied fish, with spectacular leaping ability hence its widely used alternative name of Leaping Silver bar.
There are few events more memorable than to travel by speedboat at dusk through a shoal of these fish and to find Wolf Herring making long, low leaps alongside, travelling without apparent effort at the speed of the boat or meeting it head on with sufficient force of impact to crack the windscreen. The Wolf Herring's intense silvery coloration shades to a glowing blue-green along the back; the caudal fin is yellow; other fins have a yellowish tint, becoming blackish terminally.
A common inhabitant of our tropical coastal waters, the species grows to 1.4 m (4.5 feet) in length, The Wolf Herring has little value as a food fish, the flesh bearing an abundance of small bones, However. it is prized as bait for reef fishes. Mackerel, and Barramundi (Giant Perch). It will rise avidly to a trolled bait or lure.
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