Butterfly Tuna
Submitted by till on Thu, 2012-05-31 13:12
Pretty unusual catch for Portland >OR ANYWHERE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER<
Just popping it up for Southcity104 and the rest of us. They're called a tuna, but I think they're closer related to macks.
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Brody
Posts: 1021
Date Joined: 06/02/07
A few of the guys over here
A few of the guys over here that have caught/eaten them reckon they taste brilliant. There was a 122kg Bluefin caught a couple days ago, as well as a few other apparent barrels (as they are called here) hooked and lost lately. The 122kg fish was on the nightly news.
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Yeah Mark Richter sent me
Yeah Mark Richter sent me some snaps of some good captures, including the 81kg fish caught on 10kg!
hlokk
Posts: 4290
Date Joined: 04/04/08
Which Portland?Certainly an
Which Portland?
Certainly an unusual looking fish.
Brody
Posts: 1021
Date Joined: 06/02/07
Portland, Vic.
Portland, Vic.
scottland
Posts: 3031
Date Joined: 10/05/10
heres the 122.5 kg tuna
from the ifish page
then a 80 kg model
i support two teams eagles and whoever is playing the dockers
katsy85
Posts: 209
Date Joined: 13/02/12
They look like fun!
They look like fun!
aalfred
Posts: 669
Date Joined: 13/06/09
Never seen one of those
Never seen one of those before!
And that are some solid tunas!!!
Glenn Moore
Posts: 228
Date Joined: 13/02/12
thanks till
Thanks for posting the pic till. What a great looking fish! As far as common names go, I know it as Butterfly Mackerel and have rarely heard it referred to as a tuna...but that is common names and a whole different discussion (see recent threads!). But, your comment about what it is related to got me interested, so I did a bit of research. The genetics is interesting, and indicates that this genus (which only has the one species Gasterochisma melampus) is neither a tuna or a mackerel. It seems to stand out on it's own a bit. It looks like it could still be a scombrid (true tuna and mackerel family) but some of the dna sequences even suggest it could be related to oilfishes (Gempyliidae). More work is needed, but for a quick and dirty check, I found it interesting.
Glenn Moore
Curator of Fishes
Western Australian Museum
twitter @WestOzFish
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
I noticed it was a scombrid
I noticed it was a scombrid too, but the only one of the genus.
I've seen to called a butterfly kingfish - common names are useless!
UncutTriggerInWA
Posts: 2692
Date Joined: 05/09/08
Looks more like an oversized Mulie to me LOL
Vince.
Work smart and fish often.
Member and die-hard supporter of the mighty West Coast Eagles.
pale ale
Posts: 1755
Date Joined: 02/01/10
That 80kg tuna was on 10kg
That 80kg tuna was on 10kg line
flangies
Posts: 2540
Date Joined: 11/05/08
Looks ugly
Looks ugly
keef
Posts: 143
Date Joined: 26/03/10
rare as rocking horse shit
rare as rocking horse shit those ones, saw 1 in 5 yrs on local tuna boats.
limit your catch, dont catch your limit
Alan James
Posts: 2206
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Here is a pic of a juvenile fish
You can see where the term butterfly came from. The pelvic fins reduce in size with maturity.
Rick
Posts: 1104
Date Joined: 22/12/06
Wow
That explains the name , where was that one caught ?
PGFC Member
Alan James
Posts: 2206
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Caught in NZ I think
From what I have read they are great eating as others have mentioned, so if you happen to nail one, keep it.