Bigeye trevally

A silvery trevally with a big eye, a small black spot at the top edge of the gill cover, dark scutes along the tail and a white tip on the soft dorsal fin. Young fish have about six dark bars (the name sexfasciatus means 'six bands').

2–10 lb.

About 4 ft (120 cm) and about 40 lb (18 kg).

Small fish, squid and shrimp, mostly at night.

Forms big, slow-moving schools over reefs, drop-offs and wrecks by day (a famous sight for divers), then spreads out to hunt at night.

Found from Red Sea & Arabian Gulf (Egypt, Oman, UAE), East Africa & Indian Ocean Islands, Southern Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives & Pakistan, Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam), Indonesia (Bali, Komodo, Raja Ampat, Sulawesi), Philippines, China, Hong Kong & Taiwan, Japan & South Korea, Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef, Northern Territory & Western Australia, South Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea, Guam & Northern Mariana Islands, Hawaii, American Samoa, Pacific Central America, Pacific Colombia & Ecuador and Galápagos Islands. Reef edges, lagoons, channels, wrecks and estuaries from the Red Sea and South Africa across the Indian Ocean and Pacific to Hawaii, and in the eastern Pacific from Mexico to Ecuador and the Galápagos.

Reef edges, lagoons, channels, wrecks and estuaries from the Red Sea and South Africa across the Indian Ocean and Pacific to Hawaii, and in the eastern Pacific from Mexico to Ecuador and the Galápagos.

Surface to about 300 ft.

10–100 ft on reef edges and drop-offs; shallow at night and around harbor lights.

Year-round.

Dusk, night and dawn.

Moving tides at channel mouths.

Any; calm nights around lights are good.

Small live fish, squid and shrimp.

Small poppers, stickbaits, metal jigs, soft plastics and baitfish flies.

Medium-heavy 7 ft spinning rod with a 4000–6000 reel; 9–10 weight fly rod.

2/0–5/0 single hooks.

30–50 lb braid.

40–60 lb fluorocarbon.

Cast poppers and jigs over the reef edge at dawn and dusk, or fish live bait and jigs around channel mouths and lights at night.

If you see a school sitting deep on the sonar, drop a metal jig through it and rip it back up fast.

Catch and release: wet your hands, keep the fish in the water when you can, and release it quickly. Use circle hooks and a dehooker.

Good eating when fresh.

Bleed and ice it right away. Fillet, then remove the skin and any dark bloodline.

Good eating when bled and iced — grilled, fried or as sashimi.

Sharp scutes along the tail; ciguatera has been reported from reef trevallies in some islands — ask locally before eating.

Trevally limits apply in some places (South Africa: 5 Caranx per person per day); marine parks protect many schooling sites. Rules are set by each country and state — from licenses and bag limits in South Africa, Australia and the Gulf states to marine parks across the Indian Ocean and Pacific where fishing is limited or banned — check the local regulations where you fish.

Leave the big daytime schools on dive sites alone.