Yellow Tail Fusilier

Yellow Tail Fusiliers

The Yellow Tail Fusilier is definately one of the most common fish on the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsundays is no exception. Whenever you enter the water for a scuba dive or a snorkel, you'll find clouds of these fish milling about the tops of large coral bommies and reef ledges. They are a major source of food for most of the bigger predators like Coral Trout, Giant Trevally and Pelaegic fish, so where you see big schools of these guys, you'll almost always find big predators nearby.

There most endearing habit is to sneak in front of your camera lens just at the moment you are trying to take a photo of another fish or coral. In some places, they are so thick, that if you point quickly with your forefinger, you will most likely strike one!

The Yellowtail Fusilier has a greyish-blue body. The soft portion of the dorsal fin is yellow, as is the top of the caudal peduncle and the caudal fin. The bottom third of the body is often white with a pink-reddish tinge. This gives this species its common name. The Yellow Tail Fusilier grows to about 60 cm in length, although most of the fish here in the whitsundays are around 20-30cm. They are found in tropical marine waters of the Indo-West Pacific, from Sri Lanka, throughout South-east Asia and Micronesia, north to Japan, south to Australia and east to Vanuatu.

In Australia it is known from the north-western coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country, and south to central New South Wales.

Habitat

The Yellowtail Fusilier inhabits offshore reef slopes, commonly in large schools. It is found at depths from 1 m to 60 m.

Feeding and Diet

Fusiliers generally feed on zooplankton, but will attack any small creature unlucky enough to be floating by.