Fearsome Fighting Fish With Green Bones
September 13th 2008 05:55
Again and again it leapt like a gamefish but we had no idea what it was. We found it had a fearsome set of teeth that demanded respect, as we cautiously removed the hooks. I thought it might be some kind of gigantic garfish on steroids. I had never heard of a Longtom until I got it home and researched it.
There are 18 varieties of Longtom (Belonidae undifferentiated) in Australia including the barred Longtom, blackfinned Longtom, crocodile Longtom, flat tail Longtom, freshwater Longtom, reef Longtom, slender Longtom and stout Longtom.
They are all long, slender fish that can skip over the water for long distances. They belong to the same family as garfish and flying fish and some can reach 3 kilos and almost two metres in length. The specimen depicted was 70 centimetres long and weighed 700 grams.
Inhabiting northern coastal waters throughout Australia, Long-Toms feed on anchovies, sprats, herrings, hardiheads and prawns. This example was caught on a triple gang hook baited with a whole pilchard but they will also take squid.
They are fearless predators equipped with razor sharp teeth and will reputedly attack wading anglers when disturbed. At night, a light on the water apparently attracts schooling Longtom so much that they leap at it. Islander anecdotes tell of them leaping into lighted canoes with such force that their bills became embedded in the woodwork.
There is no closed season for Long Tom but they are only available to recreational fishermen as there is no commercial fishing of this species. It would be difficult to market these fish as they have green bones.
Although the ribcage extends almost the entire length of the body I was able to get two boneless fillets with a bit of adroit knife work. The delicate tasting flesh was pale and fine grained with a pronounced bloodline running down the middle.
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