Animal Species:Araara, Pseudocaranx georgianus (Cuvier, 1833)
The Araara is greenish-grey dorsally and silver-white ventrally. It is a schooling species that occurs in New Zealand and temperate Australian marine waters.
Alternative Name/s
Blue Trevally, Blurter
Identification
The Araara is greenish-grey dorsally and silver-white ventrally. There is usually an obvious dark spot on the operculum. Juveniles have a yellow stripe along the sides of the body.
Size range
Large individuals (over 350 mm FL) develop a prominent hump on the forehead.
Distribution
The species occurs in New Zealand and temperate Australian marine waters.
The map below shows the Australian distribution of the species based on public sightings and specimens in Australian Museums. Source: Atlas of Living Australia.
Distribution by collection data
Ozcam map of Araara specimens in the Australian Museums.
Other behaviours and adaptations
It is a schooling species.
Classification
- Species:
- georgianus
- Genus:
- Pseudocaranx
- Family:
- Carangidae
- Order:
- Perciformes
- Class:
- Actinopterygii
- Subphylum:
- Vertebrata
- Phylum:
- Chordata
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
References
- Gomon, M.F in Gomon, M.F, J.C.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & G.R. Allen. 2006. Fishes. In Beesley, P.L. & A. Wells. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 35. ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Australia. parts 1-3, pages 1-2178.
- Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Swainston Publishing. Pp. 180.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Gary Allen. Pp. 437.
- Smith-Vaniz, W.F & H.L. Jelks. 2006. Australian trevallies of the genus Pseudocaranx (Teleostei: Carangidae), with description of a new species from Western Australia.Memoirs of Museum Victoria. 63(1): 97–106.
Mark McGrouther
, Collection Manager, Ichthyology
Last Updated:
Tags Fishes, Ichthyology, Carangidae, Pseudocaranx georgianus, Araara, schooling species, Blue Trevally, Blurter, greenish-grey, silver, yellow stripe, stripes or bands, hump on forehead, temperate water, marine,
5 comments
Also a correction, locations should be:
P. dinjerra - nw WA
P. georgianus - NSW to WA (Lancelin)
P. wrighti - Bass strait to WA (Exmouth)
P. sp (dentex) - QLD and Lord Howe.
Cutting and pasting text is not my forte...
For people wishing to read the 2006 paper and get access to the identification key see:
http://136.154.202.60/pages/3396/63_1-vaniz_jelks.pdf
For the avid underwater photographers out there I have bad news. The key is based on fin ray, scale and gill raker counts, so visual ID is quite difficult. Its probably best (but not certain) to base ID's on location and head shape. But of course feel free to post your photos here, and Mark and I will have a crack at it for you!
Well done Sascha! You are earning the big bucks we pay you to be an expert (only kidding, people will think I am serious). I've modified the page so it now refers to the Araara, Pseudocaranx georgianus rather than the Silver Trevally, P. dentex. Keep up the good work.
Mark,
In 2006 William Smith-Vaniz and Howard Jelks published a paper in the Memoirs of Museum Victoria reworking the existing classification of Australian Pseudocaranx species entitled "Australian trevallies of the genus Pseudocaranx (Teleostei: Carangidae), with a description of a new species from Western Australia".
To summarise, the species shown in Dave Harasti's photos as Pseudocaranx dentex is actually P. georgianus; a new species, P. dinjerra is found only in north-western WA; P. wrighti is found in QLD and Lord Howe waters; and a species similar to the original P. dentex (P. sp. "dentex") can be found off QLD and at Lord Howe.
That's excellent Sascha! Thank you for your valuable contributions.