Flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) is a saltwater, freshwater, brackish species recorded in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, United States. It is mainly found over sand, mud, estuary, mangrove, at depths of 0–120 m. The main season in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, United States runs spring, summer, autumn.
Scientific name: Mugil cephalus · Water: Saltwater, Freshwater, Brackish · Season: Spring, Summer, Autumn
Size: up to 100 cm
The Flathead grey mullet is a euryhaline member of the mullet family Mugilidae: a torpedo-shaped fish with an olive-green back, silvery flanks, six or seven faint dark stripes and no lateral line. It tolerates everything from full seawater to fresh water, feeding by day in schools over sand and mud in coastal shallows, mostly inside 10 m, and pushing far up estuaries and rivers into lakes, lagoons and canals. Because it grates algae and detritus rather than chasing prey, the reliable technique is a tiny hook baited with bread paste or seaweed, fished under a float ahead of a moving shoal. Names differ by region: Taiwan calls it 烏魚 and also 烏仔 or 青頭仔, while American southern anglers know it as the striped or black mullet. Seasons diverge sharply: Taiwan's is winter, when the inshore run supplies the island's prized mullet roe and makes it the species most often reported in the Ocean Conservation Administration's angling survey, first in the second quarter of 2020; Hong Kong fishes it mainly from spring to autumn, and Singapore sees the largest shoals around March to April and again in October. Singapore's shoals are resident year-round along the mangrove creeks at Sungei Buloh, Kranji, Punggol, Sungei Api Api and the Marina and Kallang basins, while American anglers take it mainly with cast nets and hauled beach seines, or on light tackle baited with dough or shrimp. Tagging overseas shows it can travel hundreds of kilometres, so a local catch may well be a passing migrant. Most fish run 30–75 cm, with a maximum of about 100 cm and 8 kg. Lifespan is about 16 years. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
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