Barramundi

Lates calcarifer

FAMILY

Centropomidae

TAXONOMY

Lates calcarifer Bloch, 1790, Japan.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

English: Asian seabass, Barramundi perch; French: Brochet de mer.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Total length 79 in (200 cm). Body large, elongate, and stout, with pronounced concave dorsal profile in head and a prominent snout. Color silvery but may be greenish or bluish gray on dorsal surfaces. Fins blackish or dusky brown. Juveniles have mottled pattern of brown with three white stripes on head and nape, and white blotches irregularly placed on back. There are 8–9 spines and 10–11 soft rays in the dorsal fin, 3 spines and 7–8 soft rays in the anal fin, and 7–8 soft rays in the pectoral fin. Caudal fin is truncate.

DISTRIBUTION

Indo-West Pacific from East Africa through tropical and warm temperate Asia, including southern Japan, south through Indonesia to northern Australia (from Shark Bay north in Western Australia, and the Mary River in southern Queensland in the east). Insular localities must have sufficient stream development.

HABITAT

Rivers and larger streams, billabongs, submerged floodplains, estuaries, and coastal waters. Juveniles migrate from the ocean upstream to the upper reaches of rivers and creeks where they shelter in vegetation, undercut banks, and other forms of structure. Adults tend to be found in lower reaches of turbid rivers and utilize holes or structure, such as submerged timber, rocks, and mangroves.

BEHAVIOR

Adults and juveniles tend to be solitary, patrol home ranges near structure, and may be territorial. Migration is seasonal.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Voracious predator of fishes and crustaceans. Juveniles also feed on insects. Skilled at stalking or ambushing prey.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Catadromous. Migrates downstream to shallow mudflats in estuaries during the wet season. Spawning occurs between September and March in Australia, with peaks in November to December and again in February to March. Females are larger than males, are highly fecund, and may be courted by one or more males at the same time. Eggs are pelagic, hatch within 24 hours, and the larvae grow quickly as they move into mangrove areas, mudflats, and floodplain lagoons. Juveniles move into coastal waters after one year, then migrate upstream where adults reside for three to four years. Populations landlocked by dams migrate to the dam face, but do not spawn. Raised extensively by aquaculture as food or for game fish-stocking programs.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not listed by the IUCN, but has been threatened by habitat destruction and overfishing.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

Important as a commercial and subsistence food fish but also as a game fish. The most important commercial fish of Australia, and the most sought after game fish, generates millions of dollars per year in revenue for the sportfishing and tourist industries. Cultured fish are replacing wild-caught fishes as food in parts of Australia where netting is banned. Also important in the cultures of aboriginal Australians.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: large edible Australian lungfish having paddle-shaped fins
  Synonyms: barramunda, Neoceratodus forsteri

Barramundi
Barramundi (in foreground)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Perciformes Family: Latidae Genus: Lates Species: L. calcarifer
Binomial name
Lates calcarifer (Bloch, 1790)

Not to be confused with the Barramundi Cod or the Australian members of the genus Scleropages (which sometimes are referred to as Barramundis).

The Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) is a species of diadromous fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. It ranges from northern and eastern Australia through the Torres Strait to New Guinea.

Origin of Name

Barramundi is a loanword from a Queensland Aboriginal language of the Rockhampton area^[1] meaning "large scales" or "large, scaly river" fish.^[2] Originally, the name barramundi referred to saratoga and Gulf saratoga.^[3] However, the name was appropriated for marketing reasons during the 1980s, a decision which has aided in raising the profile of this fish signicficantly.^[3]

Barramundi depicted in Aboriginal art

L. calcarifer is also known as the giant perch, giant seaperch, Asian seabass, Australian seabass, white seabass, and by a variety of names in other local languages, such as Siakap in Malay.

Description

Barramundi are usually a pale grey-green with a coppery shimmer, and can grow to a maximum length of 2 m (6 ft 7 in), weighing up to 60 kg (130 lb); specimens weighing 5–6 kg (11–13 lb) are more commonly seen, however. Of typical centropomid shape, it can be distinguished from the Waigeo seaperch (Psammoperca waigiensis) of the same waters by its closely-set nostrils and maxilla which extends back past the eye.

Lifecycle

The barramundi feeds on crustaceans, molluscs, and smaller fishes (including its own species); juveniles feed on zooplankton. This catadromous species inhabits rivers and descends to estuaries and tidal flats to spawn. At the start of the monsoon, males migrate downriver to meet females, who lay very large numbers of eggs (multiple millions each). The adults do not guard the eggs or the fry, which require brackish water to develop. The species is sequentially hermaphroditic, most individuals maturing as males and becoming female after at least one spawning season; most of the larger specimens are therefore female.

Fishing

Recreational

Highly prized by anglers for their good fighting ability, barramundi are reputed to be good at avoiding fixed nets and best caught on lines and with fishing lures. In Australia, the barramundi is used to stock freshwater reservoirs for recreational fishing.

Commercial

The fish is also of large commercial importance; it is fished internationally and raised in aquaculture in Australia, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands. Farmed in the UK by the Aquabella Group, a single facility produces up to 8 tonnes a year for distribution throughout the UK and Northern Europe.

Food

The fish's white flesh is delicate, mild-flavoured, and relatively boneless, making it a popular (and sometimes expensive) food which can be prepared in many ways. Barramundi was the theme ingredient in a Season 3 episode of Iron Chef America.

Consumers should be aware that Nile perch - a similar fish found in Lake Victoria, Africa - is often mislabeled as barramundi. However it does not fall under the recommendation for U.S. farmed barramundi. The species was originally assigned to genus Holocentrus, in the beryciform family Holocentridae.

Barramundi piebald color morph

External links

• Australis Barramundi: The Better Fish. Sustainably Farmed in USA. Better Tasting, Better For You, Better for Our Environment
• Betting On Barramundi: The Green-Friendly Fish, Feature Story on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered"
• Aquabella Group, largest indoor barramundi farm in Europe
• Native Fish Australia article
• NT Barramundi Catch Survey (amateur fishing)

References

1. ^ http://www.kasei.ac.jp/library/kiyou/2001/13.YOKOSE.pdf
2. ^ All about BARRAMUNDI. The world Wide Gourmet. Retrieved on 4 October 2007.
3. ^ ^{a b} Australia's Arrow Fish, Saratoga (The True Barramundi). Retrieved on 4 October 2007.

• "Lates calcarifer". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. October 2004 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2004.
• Lates calcarifer (TSN 167669). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 20 December 2004.
• Queensland Department of Industries and Fisheries. "Fish Note: Barramundi (Giant Perch)". Fishweb. Updated July 2005.

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