Australian Anchovy: You either love ’em or hate ’em. A good topping for pizza and the like but often over used. The Australian anchovy feeds on plankton and has a distinctive under shot jaw which makes it look a little stupid.

There are about 140 species of anchovy worldwide and are found mainly in tropical and sub-tropical waters. They like shallow water but are also found to a depth of about 200m. They are an important fish in the marine food chain and are eaten by other fish, dolphins and birds.

They live for about six years and can grow to 16cm but few are found over 10cm.

FFT Identify the Catch Competition

And the winner is – Phillip Clark from Focus Fisheries in WA.

A fantastic entry from Phillip who managed to identify the following fish from the picture above:
King prawn – Melicertus Latisulcatus
Tiger prawn – penaus Esculentus
Endeavour prawn – metapenaeus ensis
Coral prawn
Morton bay bug
Female Blue Swimmer Crab
Saucer Scallop – Amusium Balloti
Catfish – Arius thalassinus
Northwest Snapper
Yellow fin  Bream
Skipjack travally – Pseudocaranx dentex
Butter fish (thats what we call them don’t know if that will do)
Baby Mulloway (soapy)
Yellow fin whiting
Flathead – Platycephalus Longispinis
Lizard fish

While there were many funny entries (An icky long sort of fish. A brown fish. A smelly fish. A tasty fish etc etc.) the expert judging panel (me) could not go past Phillip’s skill at identifying all those fish.

To tell the truth, I had no idea what the fish were.

Thanks to all those who entered and a copy of Sharks and Rays of Australia will be winging its way to Phillip soon.