Yellow-eye mullet
Fish · Last reviewed 2026-10-22
A small, yellow-eyed temperate mullet of southern Australian and New Zealand estuaries, caught on light float and paternoster rigs from piers.
Catching Yellow-eye mullet
Everything here on fishing for it. Each entry opens the page behind it.
- Lives in
- Fresh and salt water
- Rules
- Set where you fish, not recorded here for the species. Who to ask
- Ground
- When
- Mar–Sept — months recorded at the places that document it, not a season for the whole range.
- Where
- 18 places FishingHQ documents — strongest claim anywhere: regular local target
- How
- From the shore at 18 · From a boat at 1 — the number of places that record it that way.
Yellow-eye mullet are the small mullet of southern Australia's piers and estuaries, and the yellow iris is the quickest way to tell one from the larger sea mullet. They school in shallow inshore water and are often abundant in estuaries and the lower reaches of rivers.
The Victorian Fisheries Authority lists them at nine of its Port Phillip and Western Port spots and names Mordialloc Pier as the bay's place for them, with a peak from March to September. Its method is light: a quill float or a paternoster rig with small long-shanked hooks, baited with sandworm, small pieces of pipi, whitebait or chicken, or even bread crust and dough.
The national stock assessment rates them sustainable in all four states it covers. It also says that in Victoria they are caught incidentally and seldom targeted — which sits a little oddly beside the agency's own pier guide, and both are recorded here as they are.
Catching it
How it is caught
Where and whenBack to the questions
Where Yellow-eye mullet is documented
Places where public sources describe this species as fished, with how it is fished and how strongly the evidence supports it. This is not a range map and it is not a recommendation — it is what has been written down about a fishery rather than a record of any individual catch, and being listed is never permission to fish.
See these by shore, boat, kayak, fly or fresh water in the species finder.
Victoria
18 documented places
- Port Phillip Bay · BaySeasonal · from the shore · around March to September
- Queenscliff Pier · PierRegular local target · from the shore
- Werribee River mouth · EstuaryRegular local target · from the shore
6 more places here
- Ferguson Street Pier · PierRegular local target · from the shore
- Mordialloc Pier · PierRegular local target · from the shore
- Patterson River · EstuaryRegular local target · from the shore
- Western Port · BaySeasonal · from the shore · around March to September
- Merricks Beach · BeachRegular local target · from the shore
- Stony Point Pier · PierRegular local target · from the shore
What these strengths mean
- Seasonal
- Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
- Regular local target
- Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
- Where and how to catch it: these places by shore, boat, kayak, fly or fresh water, with the gear linked to it.
- Trip planner: a destination, a method and a season, put together.
- Location explorer: documented places by distance from where you are.
- Browse fishing places by part of the world
The fishBack to the questions
Identification
No photograph of Yellow-eye mullet is published yet, so none is shown. A photograph is published only once the animal in it has been checked against the diagnostic features described on this page, and its rights to be used here have been checked at its source.
- Scientific name
- Aldrichetta forsteri
- Family
- Mugilidae
- Water
- Saltwater, Brackish, Freshwater
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Regions
- Australia, New Zealand
- A slim mullet with a bright yellow or golden eye; olive or bluish-brown above and silvery on the sides, with brown margins to the fins.
- Two well-separated, triangular dorsal fins and a weakly forked tail.
- No dark spot at the base of the pectoral fin.
- Told from sea mullet by its more pointed head and mouth, and by eyes without the fatty adipose eyelid sea mullet have.
- Small, thin scales that come off easily.
Size
- Typical
- Not given as a figure by the sources read
- Large
- About 50 cm, according to the Australian Museum; the national assessment gives 440 mm
Exceptional: FishBase records a maximum of 50 cm, 0.95 kg and an age of 7 years
Lifecycle and reproduction
The national stock assessment gives a life of about ten years and half the fish mature at two to three years and 200 to 260 mm. FishBase gives medium resilience and a maximum recorded age of seven years, so the two sources read differ on longevity.
Neither the national stock assessment nor the museum factsheet read describes spawning, and FishBase describes the species as catadromous without a season. No spawning time or place is stated here.
Feeding and senses
The sources read do not describe the natural diet. The Victorian agency's baits are small: sandworm, pieces of pipi, whitebait or chicken, and bread crust or dough, on small long-shanked hooks.
The pages read do not describe how yellow-eye mullet find food. They describe a schooling fish of shallow water over sand and mud, in estuaries and lower rivers.
Through the year
The Victorian Fisheries Authority gives March to September as the peak season in Port Phillip Bay and Western Port, through the day, on a rising or run-out tide.
Distribution
Southwest Pacific: throughout New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, and southern Australia from southern New South Wales around the south coast and Tasmania to the central coast of Western Australia, in inshore and estuarine water usually shallower than 10 m (FishBase; the Australian Museum).
This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.
Why anglers care
A light-tackle pier and estuary fish in Victoria's bays, where the state agency lists it at nine spots and names Mordialloc Pier and Mordialloc Creek for it. The national assessment notes Victorian anglers mostly catch it while fishing for something else. Small hooks, small baits and a float or light paternoster rig are the method.
Handling and returning
The sources read give no handling instructions specific to yellow-eye mullet. Its scales are small and easily dislodged, as FishBase notes, which is a reason to handle a fish to be returned as little as possible and with wet hands.
Safety and rulesBack to the questions
Sources and evidence
5 sources cited on this page
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Family, maximum size, depth range, environment and distribution for Aldrichetta forsteri. Also the identification characters, including the comparison with sea mullet.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The Least Concern assessment for Aldrichetta forsteri, assessed 10 July 2014, as FishBase reports it.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Yelloweye Mullet, Aldrichetta forsteri — Australian Museum (Mark McGrouther), updated 19 February 2019 (Scientific institute)Relied on for: The yellow iris, mouth, fins, size, range, habitat over sand and mud, and local names.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- Status of Australian Fish Stocks: Yelloweye Mullet (2023) — Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (J. Earl, H. Gorfine, R. Duffy, S. Bradshaw), 2023 (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Stock status by state, habitat, longevity, size, maturity, and that Victorian anglers seldom target it.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- Go Fishing — Port Phillip Bay — Victorian Fisheries Authority (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Peak season March to September, quill float or paternoster rig, small long-shanked hooks, the baits, the tide, and Mordialloc Pier as the hot spot.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Why the 3 connections on this page are here, and the sources
How it is caught
Official guidance — 2 connections
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
Float fishing
The Victorian agency's species panel gives the quill float as one of two rigs for yellow-eye mullet.
- Go Fishing — Port Phillip Bay — Victorian Fisheries Authority (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: That yellow-eye mullet are fished with a quill float or a paternoster rig and small long-shanked hooks.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Ledgering
The Victorian agency's species panel gives the paternoster rig as one of two rigs for yellow-eye mullet.
- Go Fishing — Port Phillip Bay — relied on for: That yellow-eye mullet are fished with a quill float or a paternoster rig and small long-shanked hooks.
Where it lives
Official guidance — 1 connection
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
Estuary
The national stock assessment places it in estuaries and the lower reaches of rivers.
- Status of Australian Fish Stocks: Yelloweye Mullet (2023) — Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (J. Earl, H. Gorfine, R. Duffy, S. Bradshaw), 2023 (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: That yelloweye mullet occur in nearshore marine waters to at least 10 m and are often abundant in estuaries and lower river reaches.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.