bludger

The bludger is a large fish, growing to at least 90 cm in length and reaching a recorded maximum weight of 14.5 kg. The bludger has a body shape very similar to the yellowspotted trevally, being more elongated and subcylindricall than most of the genus Carangoides. As a juvenile, the fish is ovate, becoming more elongated with age, with the convex dorsal profile of the head and nape becoming less steep with age also. The dorsal fin is in two distinct parts, the first consisting of 8 spines while the second is composed of 1 spines and 28 to 32 soft rays, with the anterior lobe of this fin being shorter than the head length. The anal fin has two anteriorly detached spines followed by 1 spine attached to 24 to 26 soft rays and the pelvic fin has 1 spine and 18 to 20 soft rays. The lateral line has a gentle anterior arch which is slightly longer than the straight section of the lateral line, with the intersection below the sixteenth to twentieth soft ray of the dorsal fin. The curved section contains 78 to 80 scales while the straight section consists of 15 to 19 scales and 21 to 27 scutes. The breast is scaleless until the origin of the pelvic fins and up to the origin of the pectoral fins. In adults, the mouth cleft is level with the eye, with both jaws containing bands of villiform teeth which become wider anteriorly. …

The bludger is distributed throughout the tropical to subtropical regions of the Indian and west Pacific Oceans, ranging from South Africa in the west, along east Africa and north to the Red Sea. Its distribution in the Indian Ocean extends east to India, South East Asia, Indonesia and as far south as northern Australia. In the Pacific Ocean, it extends as far north as Japan and out to New Caledonia, Tonga and the Kapingamarangi Atoll. The bludger inhabits moderately deep offshore waters on rocky and coral reef structures, rarely found in inshore waters.