Blue Warehou

Interesting Info

• The Blue Warehou (Seriolella brama) is a sleek, deep-bodied ocean fish known for its metallic blue-grey sheen and fast, schooling lifestyle. Its streamlined shape and strong tail make it a powerful swimmer built for life in the open sea.
• Despite the name, it’s not related to true warehous (trevallies) — instead, it belongs to the Centrolophidae family, sometimes called medusafish or barrelfish. These fish are known for their ability to live in both coastal and deep offshore waters.
• Blue Warehou are found throughout southern Australia and New Zealand, particularly in cooler temperate waters. In Australia, they occur from southern Queensland to Tasmania and across to the Great Australian Bight and Western Australia.
• Adults usually inhabit depths of 50–300 m (165–985 ft), cruising above sandy bottoms and rocky reefs, while juveniles often school near the surface around floating seaweed or jellyfish for protection and food.
• Their colouring fades from bright blue across the back to silvery-white on the belly — perfect camouflage for open water.
• Blue Warehou are fast-growing and can live over 20 years. They reach maturity at around 3–5 years of age and spawn in midwater, releasing eggs that float and drift with the currents until the larvae hatch.
• They feed mainly on small crustaceans, plankton, and tiny schooling fish, often forming dense shoals that flash silver and blue as they turn in unison — a dazzling sight for divers and scientists studying pelagic ecosystems.
• In some areas, Blue Warehou are a key species in mixed trawl fisheries. Because they form predictable schools, they are vulnerable to overfishing — but strict management measures and quotas have been introduced to help populations recover.
• These fish play an important ecological role in temperate waters, linking planktonic food chains to larger predators like tuna, seals, and seabirds that feed on them during migrations.