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Bastard Trumpeter
Latridopsis forsteri (Castelnau, 1872)
A Bastard Trumpeter at a depth of 8 m, Oak Park, Cronulla, New South Wales, May 2006. Photo © T. Suzuki. View larger image.
A small school of Bastard Trumpeter photographed at Shark Point, New South Wales. Photo © Á. Lumnitzer.
The Bastard Trumpeter can be recognised by its silver-grey colouration with short, irregular brown or greenish-brown lines on the upper sides. Adult fishes have a dark caudal fin margin.
It grows to about 65 cm in length.
The Bastard Trumpeter lives in coastal waters down to about 60 m. It is a schooling fish that can be seen in small numbers or occasionally in schools of thousands. It is most often observed swimming over sand near rocky reefs.
The species occurs in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia it is known from the central coast of New South Wales, around the south-east of the continent, including Tasmania, to eastern South Australia.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
The Family Latridae contains three genera, Latridopsis, Latris and Mendosoma. All three are found in Australia's cooler southern waters.
Further Reading
- Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-Eastern Australia. Crawford House Press. Pp. 437.
- Kuiter, R.H. in Gomon, M.F., C.J.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
