Milkfish (Chanos chanos)

Photo by TonyT on iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0

Fish·Active (October)

Milkfish

Chanos chanos

When
Active all year; habitat and behaviour shift with the season.
Habitat
Clear lagoons, sand flats, channels and mangrove creeks along the East African coast and around Madagascar, the Seychelles and Mauritius, south to southern Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal. Shoals cruise and feed on the flats on the rising tide; young fish live in estuaries.
Identification
A long, streamlined, silvery fish with a small, toothless mouth, a single, sail-like dorsal fin in the middle of the back, long sickle-shaped pectoral fins and a big, deeply forked tail. Olive green on the back; the fins have dark edges.
Notes
A grazer of algae and tiny animals that grows to well over a metre and runs like a tuna when hooked. Fly anglers stalk it on the flats of the Seychelles atolls with small algae flies; elsewhere it is mostly a net and pond fish, and one of the most important farmed fish in South-East Asia, where it is bangus or bandeng.
Method
A small algae fly, or a strand of green weed or bread on a small hook, put right in front of feeding fish in calm, clear water, on a long, light leader with plenty of backing.
Caution
No fishing in Kenya’s marine national parks — Malindi, Watamu, Mombasa and Kisite. In South Africa ten a day within the overall daily limit of ten fish, on a DFFE recreational permit (online or at the Post Office).

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

Milkfish facts

Also called
Bangus in the Philippines, bandeng or bolu in Indonesia, awa in Hawaii.
Family
Chanidae — the only living member of its family.
Native range
The tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific, from South Africa and the Red Sea to Hawaii and the Marquesas, north to Japan and south to Victoria, Australia; and the eastern Pacific from San Pedro, California, to the Galápagos.
Habitat
Offshore water and shallow coastal bays around continents and islands where the sea is warmer than about 20°C; schools gather where reefs are well developed. It often enters estuaries, and occasionally fresh water.
Water temperature
Tropical. AquaMaps puts its preferred surface water at about 21–29°C (70–84°F); FishBase records it in water of 15–43°C in ponds and lagoons.
Size
Most adults 60–100 cm (24–39 in); the largest measured about 180 cm (71 in).
Record
IGFA all-tackle world record: 19.73 kg (43 lb 7 oz), Javier Vairo Puig, Bocana el Cordonsillo, Costa del Sol, El Salvador, 1 February 2012.
Lifespan
Up to about 15 years (FishBase).
What it eats
Cyanobacteria, soft algae and small bottom invertebrates, and even the eggs and larvae of other fish; the larvae eat zooplankton.
Spawning
At night, in clear, shallow water over sand or coral no more than about 30 km from shore, and only in full-strength sea water. A female sheds up to 5 million eggs, which hatch in about a day; the larvae drift for two to three weeks before heading inshore. Wild fish take three to five years to mature.
Young fish
Older larvae settle in mangroves, estuaries and coastal lagoons, and juveniles return to the sea to mature. Wild fry gathered along shores and river mouths have stocked fish ponds in South-East Asia for centuries.
Teeth and mouth
Small and toothless.
Look-alikes
Bonefish and ladyfish are also silver and fork-tailed, but the bonefish has a pointed snout with the mouth underneath and the ladyfish a large, toothed mouth. Mullets have two separate dorsal fins; the milkfish has one.
Eating
Excellent but very bony, with many fine bones in the flesh; deboned ‘boneless bangus’ is sold across the Philippines. One of the most important farmed fish in South-East Asia, sold fresh, smoked, canned and frozen.
Status
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2016).

Interactive

Milkfish: size range

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

80 cm · 31 inmost adults20406080100120140160180200cm122436486072ina 4-year-old, lying down · 100 cma canoe paddle · 150 cma grown-up, lying down · 170 cm

Most adults you'll catch: 60–100 cm (24–39 in).

This milkfish: 80 cm. Longer than a loaf of bread, shorter than a four-year-old.

The record

IGFA all-tackle world record: 19.73 kg (43 lb 7 oz), Javier Vairo Puig, Bocana el Cordonsillo, Costa del Sol, El Salvador, 1 February 2012.

Questions people ask about milkfish

Can you catch milkfish on a rod?

Yes, but it takes patience: milkfish graze on algae and seldom take ordinary baits or lures. Fly anglers on the Seychelles atolls catch them with small algae flies cast to feeding fish, and once hooked they make long, fast runs.

Why is milkfish so bony?

Its flesh is laced with fine intermuscular bones. In the Philippines and Indonesia, where it is a staple farmed fish, much of it is sold deboned or pressure-cooked until the bones soften.

Where do milkfish live in Africa?

Along the East African coast from the Red Sea to South Africa, and around Madagascar, the Seychelles and Mauritius — over sand flats, in lagoons and in the mangrove estuaries where the young grow up.

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.

Local activity

This week's guide for a place

Enter a town, postal code or ZIP for this week's conditions there, based on the local climate, this week's weather and the ecological region.

Also active in October