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Trevally

Fish · Least Concern

Trevally

Caranx ignobilis

About

The giant trevally, also called the lowly trevally, barrier trevally, giant kingfish or ulua, is a large marine fish in the jack family, Carangidae. It ranges across the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, from South Africa to Hawaii and from Japan in the north to Australia in the south.

Family
Carangidae
Avg size
80-170 cm
Habitat
This species occupies a very broad spread of inshore and offshore marine settings and can even tolerate the brackish waters of estuaries and rivers. Although it ranges throughout the water column and is regarded as semipelagic, it is mostly demersal, and is most abundant in shallow coastal habitats such as coral and rocky reefs, shorefaces, lagoons, bays, tidal flats and channels. Individuals frequently move between reef patches, crossing wide stretches of deeper sand and mud in between.
Behaviour
A powerful predator, the giant trevally hunts the estuaries it occupies as a juvenile and patrols outer reefs and atolls as an adult. The timing of its hunting differs by region: off South Africa it is most active by day, particularly at dawn and dusk, whereas off Zanzibar and Hong Kong it feeds at night. Its diet, studied across several countries and habitats, varies somewhat with location and age.

Where & when

Where & When to See It

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