Australian Fish Photos, Seafood Photographs and Information

Directory & Info for Fishing, Angling, Fishing Tackle, Fishing Guides, Fly Fishing, Bass Fishing, Sports fishing, Game Fishing....
See >> Info on All types of Fishing | Angling | Tackle etc

Photos of  Australian Seafood, Fish, Crustaceans & Cephalopods and Information on each....

Beche De Mer
(Sea Cucumber - Trepang)

Also known as Silver Batfish and Mono and Silver Diamond Fish.

Butter Bream have a deep, narrow and squat body.  It is bright silver with a greenish tint on the back.  Two vertical dark bands at the head and gills of the juvenile fish fade as the fish matures.

The caudal fin is yellow, as is the trailing edge of all the fins.  The leading tips of the dorsal and anal fins are smudged in black.

Butter Bream are found in bays and estuaries around wharves and jetties and can grow to a length of 27cm.

They are caught with a floating bait of squid, octopus or fish, using a very small hook.

Distribution: west Africa, Indo-Pacific. Chiefly marine and brackish; occasionally entering freshwater.

Description:  Body deep and highly compressed. Pelvic fins present in juveniles, lacking or vestigial in adults in Monodactylus. Dorsal fin with the base long and scaly; 5-8 short and graduated spines. Anal fin base long; 3 spines. Scales cycloid or ctenoid. Often silvery. Feed on small fish and invertebrates. Assumed to be nonguarders (RF). In large schools in river mouths. Common freshwater aquarium fish.

Butter Bream are omnivorous.  They eat sea vegetables, small fish, crustaceans, shrimp.  

-

Angling, Fishing for Silver Batfish, Mono or Butter Bream:

Best caught on light spinning tackle, a standard running rig, 1 to 1/0 hook baited with peeled or live prawn. 

Saltwater Fish - What bait to use for fishing - a list of saltwater baits with the main "diners" who will be tempted.

Cooking Silver Batfish, Mono or Butter Bream:

They are a good eating fish.

Buying
Snapper is sold whole (gilled and gutted), in cutlet, steak and fillet forms. Other breams are generally sold whole (gilled and gutted), only occasionally as fillets, usually already skinned. In whole fish look for lustrous skin, firm flesh, and a pleasant, fresh sea smell. In fillets, look for firm, lustrous, moist flesh without any brown markings or oozing water and with a pleasant fresh sea smell. Flesh colour varies from the creamy pink of snapper to the pinker flesh of yellowfin bream, tarwhine, and pikey bream all of which may have some dark veins showing. Black bream’s flesh is slightly greyish and frypan bream’s has a yellowish tint.

Storing
Make sure whole fish is scaled, gutted and cleaned thoroughly as soon as possible (completely remove the lining of the abdominal cavity and the white fat along the abdominal wall). Wrap whole fish and fillets in plastic wrap or place in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze whole fish for up to 6 months, and fillets for up to 3 months, below -18ºC.

Cooking & Serving
Breams are best steamed, poached, pan-fried, baked, grilled or barbecued. They’re a good plate-sized fish cooked whole and the bones (especially of snapper) make excellent stock. Snapper has a more delicate flavour than other breams and a slightly firmer flesh that breaks into large flakes, though larger fish tend to have slightly softer texture. The edible skin can be left on. All breams, including snapper, have a mild, sweet flavour, and are moist and relatively low in oil. Those which live in estuaries and rivers, notably tarwhine and black bream, can have a slightly coarser, muddy or weedy flavour, which can be balanced by cooking with soy sauce, ginger and other Asian spices.

Microwave Cooking Times for Fish
- Fish fillets – 5 minutes per 500g on medium-high, +50 seconds more for thicker fillets, or until flesh flakes
- Whole fish - Large – 6 minutes/750g on medium
- Whole fish – Small – 3-4 minutes on medium

Commercial Fishing for Silver Batfish, Mono or Butter Bream:

More links about Silver Batfish, Mono or Butter Bream

Australian Government - Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (PDF file) - Australian Fisheries Statistics 2010/2011