27/05/2022
🎣𝑬𝑿𝑪𝑰𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑻𝑨𝑮 𝑹𝑬𝑪𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬🎣
On the 1st February 2022 we had our 434th spotted grunter tag recapture for the ORI Cooperative Fish Tagging Project (ORI-CFTP), and the third longest time at liberty for this species!
This grunter was originally tagged by Nick Baikoff on the 15th December 2014 in the Duiwenhoks River, Western Cape (WC), measuring 650 mm Fork Length (FL). This fish was recaptured 2 605 days (7.1 years) later by Jenni Spolander upstream in the Breede River, WC, measuring 664 mm FL (converted from the Total Length measurement) having grown about 14 mm and moved about 19 km.
Spotted grunter are found in warm temperate waters of the Western Indian Ocean from India to South Africa and are found along the entire eastern seaboard of southern Africa as far south as False Bay in the WC. Adults are found in estuaries and coastal waters over soft sediments. Juveniles are mainly found in estuaries and harbours which they use as nursery areas, but also occur in coastal embayments and shallow coastal waters. Despite this species making seaward migrations to spawn in spring and summer, adult spotted grunter often return to the same estuary. This species has been the subject of extensive research using both external dart tagging and acoustic telemetry. Spotted grunter reach maturity at 33-39 cm TL and an age of 3 years, with males maturing earlier than females. They can reach a maximum size of 91 cm FL, a weight of 9.5 kg and have been aged to a maximum of 16 years. Unfortunately, the South African population is considered to be overexploited as a result of overfishing and estuarine degradation and has therefore been listed as Red (DON’T BUY) on the SASSI list. However, the global population has been evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. There is a daily bag limit of five-per-person-per-day and a minimum size limit of 40 cm TL. No-take estuarine protected areas throughout this species’ distribution will provide improved protection, and it is also likely that the new uThukela Banks Marine Protected Area will play a role in protecting adult spawning fish.
For more interesting information on our linefish species, be sure to download our new ORI Fish App Marine Fish Guide for Southern Africa from Google Play (Android) or the App Store (iPhone). We would like to thank our taggers and the members of the angling public for their ongoing support in reporting these exciting recaptures to us. Please keep up the good work!