Goldenline Whiting

Interesting Info

• The Goldenline Whiting is a slender, sand-dwelling whiting found in tropical northern Australia, ranging from Shark Bay in Western Australia across the Northern Territory to the Gulf of Carpentaria and northern Queensland.
• It is named for the distinctive golden or yellowish line that runs along the middle of its silvery body, a key feature for identification.
• The body is elongate and laterally compressed, with dusky dorsal fins and a pale yellowish tail.
• Juveniles inhabit shallow coastal bays, estuaries, and seagrass beds, while adults are more common over sandy substrates on open coasts.
• Goldenline Whiting feed by probing into sand with their tubular mouths, sucking up worms, crustaceans, molluscs, and other small benthic invertebrates.
• They are schooling fish, often forming loose aggregations over sandy bottoms, which helps protect individuals from predators.
• Predators include larger estuarine fishes such as barramundi, trevallies, queenfish, and flathead, as well as seabirds.
• Spawning takes place offshore, with fertilised eggs drifting in the plankton until hatching and larvae recruiting back into inshore nurseries.
• Their lifespan is relatively short, averaging 5–7 years, similar to other small to medium-sized whitings.
• They are fast-growing, with juveniles reaching catchable size (around 20 cm) within their first two years of life.
• Goldenline Whiting are of modest importance to commercial fisheries in northern Australia but are valued by recreational anglers for their eating quality.
• They are often caught alongside northern and sand whiting species, with fishers distinguishing them by the golden lateral stripe.
• They play an important ecological role in estuaries and coastal waters by controlling populations of benthic invertebrates.