Joomla! accessible Template

King George Whiting in Adelaide

Last Updated on Wednesday, 31 December 1969 15:59 Written by Dr Corey Fisher Monday, 02 February 2009 09:01

The King George whiting was first named in 1829 as Sillago punctata, based on an indervidual caught from King George Sound in Western Australia. A number of synonyms have since been added to the initial naming due to the fish not being designated a holotype. The fish has a variety of commonly used names but the most common, "King George Whiting", taken from the name of the body of water where the first officially named fish was caught.

The King George whiting was first named in 1829 as Sillago punctata, based on an indervidual caught from King George Sound in Western Australia. A number of synonyms have since been added to the initial naming due to the fish not being designated a holotype. The fish has a variety of commonly used names but the most common, "King George Whiting", taken from the name of the body of water where the first officially named fish was caught.

With an elongated, slightly compressed body, tapering head and a bottom feeding style mouth. The King George Whiting is recognised by a first dorsal fin with 12 or 13 sipnes and a second dorsal fin with one single spine. Within its species, it is best distinguished by the shape of its swim bladder.

Native to Southern Australia, ranging from lower Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and sometimes even as far north as southern New South Wales. King George whiting are most commonly found in tidal bays, estaries and creeks along the southern coast of the mainland and numerous islands in this area.

The fish themselves freeze very well, and the fish are very easy to scale and fillet. King George Whiting can be caught all year round, winter usually seeing the largest congregation of them in the gulf waters, while early summer can land you a catch off lower Yorke peninsula.

By far the biggest specimens come from deep water and are often caught as a bycatch when drifting for dhuies. A whiting that can swallow a 7/0 hook loaded up with bait is a prize indeed!

This magnificent whiting can live for up to 15 years and achieve a length of 72cm. It's worth nothing that maturity size is between 32cm and 36cm - well above the 28cm legal limit. So this means that few female fish caught between the minimum length and minimum maturity size of 32cm have had a chance to breed.

Complementary flavourings for whiting are the herbs dill, basil, chives, parsley and tarragon. When whiting is grilled or barbecued, a salad of grapefruit, orange, lime and lemon, with a citrus and olive oil dressing, will complement the flavour wonderfully. Other suitable sauces and condiments are lemon and herbed butters or buerre blanc. Crusts of cumin, coriander and ground turmeric are also tasty.

In 2005, the number of small juvenile whiting was the strongest recorded since monitoring began in the mid 1990s.