King threadfin

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title: "King threadfin" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["polydactylus", "fish-described-in-1867", "taxa-named-by-albert-günther"] description: "Species of fish" topic_path: "general/polydactylus" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_threadfin" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of fish ::

| image = Polydactylus macrochir.png | taxon = Polydactylus macrochir | authority = (Günther, 1867) | synonyms = *Polynemus macrochir Günther, 1867

• Polynemus sheridani Macleay, 1884
• Polydactylus sheridani (Macleay, 1884) | synonyms_ref = The king threadfin (Polydactylus macrochir), also known as the blind salmon, blink tassel-fish, burnett salmon, gold threadfin, king salmon, kingfish, Sheridan threadfin, striped tassel fish, or threadfin salmon, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a threadfin from the family Polynemidae which is found in southern New Guinea and northern Australia.

Description

The king threadfin is a large threadfin which can attain a maximum total length of 170 cm and a maximum published weight of 45 kg, although the more common total length is 48 cm.

Distribution

The king threadfin is found in the eastern Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. It is found in southern New Guinea and northern Australia. In New Guinea its range extends along the southern coast from Western New Guinea, Indonesia, to the Gulf of Papua in Papua New Guinea.

Habitat and biology

King threadfin occur in shallow, turbid waters such as coastal waters, estuaries, mangrove creeks, and mangrove-lined rivers, over sandbanks and mud substrates. It normally aggregates into loose schools, however, the larger individuals are more frequently recorded as pairs or as individuals. This is a carnivorous species which feeds on prawns and fish. It is a protandrous hermaphrodite and fish between fork lengths of 70 and appear to be transitional hermaphrodites in that they have mature male and immature female reproductive organs, and they function reproductively as males. King threadfins in the process of transitioning are most frequently recorded from June to September. The females spawn pelagic eggs but little is known about the larvae although the nursery areas are inshore, shallow and of low salinity.

Fisheries

The king threadfin is one of the most important species in the fisheries in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia and it is caught mostly using coastal set gillnets, and also using fixed tidal traps, beach seines, ring nets and handlines. The fishery in the southern part of the Gulf of Carpentaria is dominated by males in the age range 3-6 years old. In the Gulf of Carpentaria between 1980 and 1987 the gillnet fishery landings of this species equalled an average 30% by weight of total landings.

Species description

Polydactylus macrochir was first formally described as Polynemus macrochir in 1867 by Albert Günther who gave the type locality as New South Wales, thought to be an error for Queensland.

References

References

1. {{Fishbase. Polydactylus. macrochir. (2019)
2. Hiroyuki Motomura. (2004). "Threadfins of the World (family Polynemidae): An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Polynemid Species Known to Date". Food & Agriculture Org..
3. "King threadfin". Queensland Government.
4. "Threadfins". Western Australia Government.
5. "''Polynemus macrochir''".

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