Species: Grunters (Terapontidae)
Other names: Crescent-banded Perch, Crescent-Banded Tigerfish, Crescent Bass, Tiger Grunt, Tiger Perch, Tiger Bass, Three-stripe Grunter, Three-striped Perch, Three-striped Tigerfish, Three-striped Grunter, Three-striped Perch, Three-striped Tigerfish.
Local names: Kerong-kerong
Like the Gelama or all grunters, this fish makes a grunting noise when taken out of the water. What I remember most about this fish are the spines! They’re everywhere. Watch-out for the spine sticking out at the gill plates too, nasty.
Where are they?
Japan, Western Pacific, South China Sea, Straits of Malacca, Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
Biology and fishery
Schooling fish that inhabits inshore waters but also found in brackish waters. Feeds on invertebrates and fishes. The one picture above was caught on peeled shrimp using paternoster rig.
Are they big?
Pictured fish is 30 cm in length. Common sizes are 15 – 20 cm.
Are Striped Grunters any good to eat?
I personally find them a little on the tough side. Edible but not great. Small scales cover its body giving it a very rough feel.
A commercial species not uncommon seen in the markets but only in small numbers.
These little buggers like to strike lures…saw them while fishing in sabak bernam…cast a blue-silver berkley minnow…BAM!strike after strike…unfortunately they wont get hooked…probably should have used smaller trebles….used small hooks with cockle later on..immediately caught one…fun fish to catch when bored….:D
They won’t get hooked? Perhaps your hook size is too big for the target fish.
Next time when I’m targeting these guys I’ll use single hooks
Fishing this fish in taiwan near Hsinchu area the biggest i’ve caught is around 30cm. Its habit of striking varies in sizes thats what i notice, the smallers ones always like to strike and go, but the big ones they like to swallow the bait then swim backwards slowly….i caught them around end of winter season(small sizes) but when the weather is slowly getting warmer we( me and my buddies) caught the decent size if lucky we caught black sea breams also…
Thanks for sharing, Jan. These fish can pull making them fun to catch.