Flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus)

Mugil cephalus

The flathead grey mullet is an important food fish species in the mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in coastal tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. Its length is typically 30 to 75 centimetres . It is known with numerous English names, including the flathead mullet, striped mullet , black mullet, bully mullet, common mullet, grey mullet, sea mullet and mullet, among others.

The flathead grey mullet is a mainly diurnal coastal species that often enters estuaries and rivers. It usually schools over sand or mud bottoms, feeding on zooplankton. The adult fish normally feed on algae in fresh water. The species is euryhaline, meaning that the fish can acclimate to different levels of salinity.

Appearance

The back of the fish is olive-green, sides are silvery and shade to white towards the belly. The fish may have six to seven distinctive lateral horizontal stripes. Lips are thin. The mullet has no lateral line. A common length is about 50 centimetres , and its maximum length is 100 centimetres . It can reach a maximum weight of eight kilograms .

Cultural

The flathead grey mullet is an important food fish around the world, and it is both fished and farmed. The reported worldwide catches from fishing in 2012 were about 130,000 tonnes and aquaculture production was 142,000 tonnes.

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Status: Least concern
EX	EW	CR	EN	VU	NT	LC

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Animalia
Division	Chordata
Class	Actinopterygii
Order	Mugiliformes
Family	Mugilidae
Genus	Mugil
Species	M. cephalus

Photographed in
United States of America