Flathead grey mullet (striped mullet) (Mugil cephalus)

Photo by LPB on iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Fish·Active (October)

Flathead grey mullet (striped mullet)

Mugil cephalus

When
Active all year; habitat and behaviour shift with the season.
Habitat
Harbours, marinas, estuaries, lagoons and river mouths almost anywhere warm — shoals cruise quays and the lower reaches of rivers, and often run far upstream into fresh water.
Identification
A stout, round-bodied fish with a broad, flat head, a thin upper lip and a clear, fatty eyelid that covers most of the eye. Olive-green above, silver on the sides, often with six or seven dark stripes along the flank; it has no visible lateral line.
Notes
Found in coastal water in every warm and temperate sea. A grazer of algae, detritus and tiny animals, so it ignores most lures: bread and dough are the classic baits. Shoals move to sea to spawn, and young fish depend on estuaries.
Method
Bread flake or dough on a small hook under a light float, after loose-feeding bread in a harbour or estuary to get the shoal feeding.
Caution
In South Africa mullet carry a 50-a-day limit with no size limit; an angling permit covers rod and line only, so netting them for bait needs separate authorisation — check with DFFE first. Elsewhere minimum sizes vary (30 cm on France’s Atlantic and Channel coasts).

Seasons, size limits and catch limits change every year and differ by water body. Check the current regulations for the local jurisdiction and the water before fishing.

Flathead grey mullet (striped mullet) facts

Also called
Striped mullet (its IGFA name), grey mullet, black mullet, sea mullet and common mullet; flathead mullet in South Africa.
Family
Mugilidae, the mullets.
Native range
Coastal waters of tropical, subtropical and temperate seas worldwide: the Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Brazil and from the Bay of Biscay to South Africa, including the Mediterranean and Black Sea; the Indian Ocean from South Africa to India; the Pacific from Japan to Australia and from California to Chile. Genetic work suggests it is a complex of closely related species.
Habitat
Coastal water, estuaries, lagoons, mangroves and rivers, sometimes far upstream, from the surface to about 10 m; schools over sand and mud. It moves freely between fresh, brackish and salt water.
Water temperature
Wide-ranging. AquaMaps puts its preferred surface water, across tropical and temperate coasts, at about 16–28°C (61–82°F); FishBase gives 8–24°C (46–75°F).
Size
Most adults 30–50 cm (12–20 in); the largest measured about 100 cm (39 in).
Record
IGFA all-tackle world record (as striped mullet): 4.71 kg (10 lb 6 oz), Scott Lindner, Upper Laguna Madre, Texas, USA, 13 March 2009.
Lifespan
Up to about 16 years.
What it eats
Microscopic algae, detritus and small bottom animals, grazed by day; larvae eat zooplankton.
Spawning
At sea, in schools that move offshore, at different times of year in different places — in South Africa between May and November, often near estuary mouths. Females shed 0.8–2.6 million eggs; fish mature at three to four years.
Young fish
Larvae drift back inshore, and juveniles depend on estuaries as nurseries.
Teeth and mouth
Small, with a thin upper lip and fine teeth; a fatty (adipose) eyelid covers most of the eye.
Look-alikes
Other grey mullets — the thick-lipped, thin-lipped and golden grey mullets of Europe and the harder (Chelon richardsonii) of the Cape — look much alike. The flathead grey mullet’s tells are its broad, flat head, the fatty eyelid over most of the eye, and a thin upper lip without papillae.
Eating
An important food fish worldwide, fried, smoked or baked; its salted, pressed roe is bottarga in Italy, avgotaraho in Greece and karasumi in Japan.
Status
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2022).

Interactive

Flathead grey mullet: size range

Move the slider from a typical adult to the largest recorded specimen, shown against objects of known size.

40 cm · 16 inmost adults102030405060708090100110120cm612182430364248ina grown-up's hand · 18 cma loaf of bread · 30 cma 4-year-old, lying down · 100 cm

Most adults you'll catch: 30–50 cm (12–20 in).

This flathead grey mullet (striped mullet): 40 cm. Longer than a loaf of bread, shorter than a four-year-old.

The record

IGFA all-tackle world record (as striped mullet): 4.71 kg (10 lb 6 oz), Scott Lindner, Upper Laguna Madre, Texas, USA, 13 March 2009.

Questions people ask about flathead grey mullet

How do you catch a mullet on a rod?

Usually with bread. Mullet graze on algae and detritus and seldom take lures; in estuaries and harbours, anglers loose-feed or groundbait with bread and fish a pinch of bread on a small hook under a light float.

Can mullet live in fresh water?

Yes. The flathead grey mullet moves freely between salt, brackish and fresh water, often running far up rivers, though it returns to the sea to spawn.

What is bottarga?

The salted, pressed and dried roe of the flathead grey mullet (and some other fish) — bottarga in Italy, avgotaraho in Greece and karasumi in Japan.

Found in these regions

Checked against these sources ·

Sizes, records and ranges are for the species as a whole; local populations and rules vary. Records change; the record-keeper named above holds the current one.

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Also active in October