Herring Cale

Interesting Info

• The Herring Cale lives all around southern Australia—from Western Australia, across South Australia and Victoria, Tasmania, and up the east coast through New South Wales, to southern Queensland.
• It is part of the odacid family, a small group of seaweed-eating fishes that are unique to southern Australia and New Zealand.
• Their bodies are bluish-green to brown, with a silvery sheen that reminded early fishers of herrings—hence the name “Herring Cale.”
• Juveniles often show mottled patterns that provide camouflage among kelp and seagrass.
• Herring Cale live over rocky reefs, kelp beds, and seagrass meadows, usually in depths from the surface down to 20 m (65 ft).
• They are daytime grazers, scraping algae from rocks and seaweed with their strong, beak-like jaws.
• By feeding this way, they play a key ecological role in keeping algal growth under control on reefs.
• Herring Cale are often seen swimming in small groups, moving steadily over weed-covered reefs.
• During the breeding season in summer, males may become more colourful and display to females.
• Eggs are released into open water, where they drift until hatching.
• The lifespan is not well studied but is thought to be 7–10 years, longer than many small reef fish.
• Predators include larger reef fishes, seals, and seabirds that forage in kelp habitats.
• Snorkellers and divers commonly encounter them on shallow reefs along the NSW and Victorian coasts and around Tasmania.
• They are sometimes mistaken for wrasses but are distinct algae-eaters with a beak-like jaw.