# Slatey Bream or Slatey Sweetlip



## Guest (Nov 18, 2007)

Not sure on the exact name of this fish. Did an internet search and so far have only been able to come up with these 2 - Slatey Bream or Slatey Sweetlip. I'm leaning towards Slatey Bream.
One way or another it was a good size fish and I got 2 nice thick fillets from it. 

Anyway, I caught it in Morton Bay today - 48cm


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## xerubus (May 17, 2007)

Morwong (Diagramma pictum Thunberg )
Common Names: Painted Sweetlip, Blackall or Slatey bream

We have always called them the mother-in-law fish. nice catch.


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## josho (Nov 3, 2007)

neither i believe it is a gold spotted sweetlip it has lost its colouration because it is dead, but when you look closely at its taiil you can see the distinguishing spots on its tail.

josh


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2007)

The tail is the only place it had spots. The only colour it lost a bit was the purplish colour on its body.

It definately didn't look like this when pulled from the water - http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishf ... avomac.htm
Pretty close Josho,
However, I do still believe it belongs to the sweetlip family.

Aha! I Found this. Check this out. http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishguide/15819.html









That's the purplish colour on the body and if you look closely, black spots on the tail.









xerubus is right on the numbers I believe.


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## hairymick (Oct 18, 2005)

G'day Zone,

Agree with you mate.

According to grants Guide to Fishes,, it is Plectorhynchus pictus (Thumberg)

Most common names are Morwong or Painted Sweetlip

They are very common here in Hervey Bay where they are known locally as Blackall. further north, they have varying local names like Slate Bream and Thicklip Bream. They are a relative of the sweetlips and although much maligned as a table fish, are fine eating if bled on capture and put on ice quickly. I love them. They put up a great fight too.

Nice Catch BTW


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2007)

Thanks Hairy. When I was researching this fish this arvo I found other Forums where they were trying to identify the fish for somebody else. Together we all nailed it down much quicker than some of those other people did.  It can get confusing as depends on what part of the world you are in fish can have different names.

This was also the first fish I ever filleted. Didn't do too bad a job for my first attempt. Need to get a proper filleting knife (nice and sharp)


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

You'll know when you eat it. Mother-in-law fish taste pretty bad, strong iodine taste. Sweetlip on the other hand, mmm mmmmm


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2007)

I think sometimes it depends how you prepare and cook it. There is often a host of variables, how large the fish is, where it was caught (ie ocean, river, muddy river) I'm sure there are other variables. But hey, I'm no expert.

Had it tonight and there was nothing wrong with it. Fried the fillets in butter and was nice.


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