The tailor is a unique fish which does not have any close relatives, yet as a single species, occurs all over the world. In Australia, it has a certain iconic status with recreational fishers, and in fact, is caught in much larger quantities by anglers compared with commercial fishers on both the east and west coasts. Because they are easily caught, tailor tend to be prone to overfishing, but management measures, such as the closure to fishing on southern Queensland tailor spawning grounds, appear to have worked well in conserving their stocks.

DISTRIBUTION Around the world, the tailor’s main concentrations are off South Africa, where it is called the ‘elf’, the eastern USA, where it is known as ‘bluefish’, and northwest Africa, where it takes on the French name, ‘tassergal’. In Australia, tailor are relatively common along the east coast, from southeast Queensland to Lakes Entrance in Victoria, while on the west coast, they are found mainly between Geraldton and Albany. There are records of their appearance in SA and Tasmania, but such occurrences are patchy and intermittent.

MOVEMENTS

Tailor show quite extensive movements wherever they have been tagged in any numbers. More years ago than I care to remember, I was involved in tagging large numbers of tailor along the northern NSW coast. Results showed that the great majority of recaptured fish headed north, many of them travelling into Queensland waters to the great sand islands of Stradbroke, Moreton and especially, Fraser. Thousands of tailor have also been tagged during their spawning aggregations at Fraser Island, with subsequent recaptures recorded along the southeast Queensland coast and northern NSW as far south as Newcastle. This tagging work, together with DNA studies, strongly suggests that tailor on the east coast are part of one population, or stock, but importantly, not linked with the tailor population in WA.

REPRODUCTION

It has now been well established that tailor spawn en masse off northeastern Fraser Island each spring. This, of course, is the purpose of the great aggregations of fish (and fishermen!) in the area, and led to the well-advised closure to fishing in this area during the main spawning season. During that time, male and female tailor can be identified by gently squeezing their bellies; males exuding white milk and females, a stream of clear eggs. At other times, however, it is not possible to sex tailor, or for that matter, most other fish, without opening them up and examining the gonads. Larval and very small tailor are caught along the coast, often inside estuaries, indicating the importance of bays and inlets as nursery areas for the species. In fact, juvenile tailor tend to stay within estuaries or bays for the first year of their lives.

GROWTH

It is estimated that tailor grow rapidly, reaching about 30cm by an age of two years, and a spawning size of 35 to 40cm by age three. These figures vary considerably though from place to place. Tailor are known to grow to at least 14kg, although any fish over 5kg would be considered a trophy.

SPORTING AND EATING QUALITIES

Tailor are great sporting fish, but because they bite so freely, they tend to be taken somewhat for granted. They are excellent eating when fresh, but must be bled as soon as they are caught. Unfortunately, they deteriorate fairly quickly in the fridge or freezer but the good news is their oily flesh makes them well suited to smoking. Fresh fillets are best cooked simply, by pan frying in a smear of olive oil with a squeeze of lemon and served with crusty bread and, of course, a glass of chilled dry white.

By Dr Julian Pepperell, as featured in Trailerboat issue 224