Mugil cephalus, Linnaeus, 1758
The striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) is an important food fish species in the mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in coastal temperate, subtropical, and tropical waters worldwide. Its length is typically 30 to 75 centimetres (12 to 30 in). It is known with numerous English names, including the flathead mullet, flathead grey mullet, striped mullet, black mullet, bully mullet, common mullet, grey mullet, sea mullet, and mullet.
The striped mullet is a mainly diurnal coastal species that often enters estuaries and rivers. It usually schools over sand or mud bottoms, feeding on zooplankton, dead plant matter, microalgae, and detritus. The adult fish normally feed on algae in fresh water. The species is euryhaline, meaning they can acclimate to different levels of salinity.
The back of the fish is olive-green; the sides are silvery and shade to white towards the belly. The fish may have six or seven distinctive, lateral, horizontal stripes. Lips are thin. The mullet has no lateral line. A common length is about 50 cm (20 in) and its maximum length is 100 cm (39 in). It can reach a maximum weight of 8 kg (18 lb).
The striped mullet is cosmopolitan in coastal waters of the tropical, subtropical, and temperate zones of all seas, as far north as the Bay of Biscay and Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean.
It occupies fresh, brackish and marine habitats in depths ranging from 0–120 metres (0–394 ft) and with temperatures between 8 and 24 °C (46 and 75 °F).
In Australia, this fish is widespread, from Far North Queensland, around southern Australia to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It also occurs in the Bass Strait area of Tasmania. It lives in tropical and temperate, coastal marine and estuarine waters, but are also often found in the lower reaches of rivers. It is able to live in a wide range of salinity, so may also be found in lagoons, lakes, and far into estuaries, but migrate back to the sea to spawn.
The striped mullet is an important food fish around the world, and it is both fished and farmed. The reported worldwide production in 2024 reached about 125,000 tonnes, of which 5% came from aquaculture.
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