Talang queenfish (Scomberoides commersonnianus) is a saltwater, brackish species recorded in Singapore, Malaysia. It is mainly found over reef, at depths of ≤ 50 m. The main season in Singapore, Malaysia runs all year.
Scientific name: Scomberoides commersonnianus · Water: Saltwater, Brackish · Season: All year · Also known as: Queenfish (Talang)
Size: 40–100 cm
The talang queenfish is a carangid known to Singapore anglers as “Sam Poh Kong” or “Talang”; it is a fast coastal predator taken from both shore and boat. It is often encountered around the southern islands and breakwaters, and its repeated jumps and soft lips make it a challenging target. Singapore’s NParks Red Data Book lists it as EN (threatened), though it is not legally protected.
The readiest identification feature is a single row of five or six large dark silvery blotches running along the flanks above the lateral line, and the dorsal fin lobe has no dark tip, which most of its congeners do. The snout is rather blunt and the large mouth holds several rows of very sharp teeth. Both the anal and the dorsal fin are truncated, their posterior parts reduced to spines, and the caudal fin is strongly forked. The head and back are bluish grey against a silvery ventral side. Growth is rapid at first and then slows: about 25 cm in the first year and 50 cm by the third, with females maturing at a fork length of 63 cm at around four to five years, and the heaviest recorded is 16 kg. Its range runs from South Africa, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf east through Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to New Caledonia, north to southern Japan and south to Western Australia and New South Wales. Adults work coastal waters and are often found around reefs and offshore islands, occasionally entering estuaries, and they normally travel in small schools. Adults prey on fishes, cephalopods and other pelagic animals, while the juveniles use rasping teeth to feed on the scales and epidermis of other fishes.
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