Species Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, 1758

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CAAB: 37381002

Species Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, 1758

Sea Mullet, Bully, Bully Mullet, Flathead Mullet, Grey Mullet, Hard-gut Mullet, Hardgut Mullet, Hardgut River Mullet, Mangrove Mullet, Poddies, Poddy Mullet, River Mullet, Sand Mullet, Striped Mullet

Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10, 824 pp. [316].
Type data:
Syntype(s) NHRM LP.43, European Ocean.
Mugil dobula Günther, A. 1861. Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum. Catalogue of the acanthopterygian fishes in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 3 586 pp. [420, 421, fig.].
Type data:

Syntype(s) BMNH 1847.6.17.23, Perth, WA; BMNH 1848.10.25.32, Perth, WA; BMNH 1851.2.29.7–8, Perth, WA; BMNH 1844.2.15.51, Perth, WA; BMNH 1869.7.18.3, Perth, WA.
Mugil gelatinosus Klunzinger, C.B. 1872. Zur Fische-fauna von Süd Australien. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 38(1): 17-47 pl. 2 [35].
Type data:
Holotype SMNS 1563, Murray River, SA.
Mugil grandis Castelnau, F.L. de 1879. Essay on the ichthyology of Port Jackson. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 3(4): 347-402 [386].
Type data:
Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown, Port Jackson, NSW.
Mugil muelleri Klunzinger, C.B. 1879. Die v. Müller'sche Sammlung Australischer Fische. Anzeiger der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Wien 16(22): 254-261 [395] [as Mugil Muelleri; described in more detail in Klunzinger, C.B. 1880. Die von Müller'sche Sammlung australischer Fische in Stuttgart. Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften. Wien 80(1): 325–430 pls 1–9 [395]].
Type data:
Holotype SMNS 2572 (missing), King George Sound, WA.
Mugil marginalis De Vis, C.W. 1885. New fishes in the Queensland Museum. No. 5. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 9(4): 869-887 [870].
Type data:

Syntype(s) QM I.121, Brisbane, QLD; QM I.9774, Brisbane, QLD.
Mugil marginatus Saville-Kent, W. 1893. The Great Barrier Reef of Australia; its Products and Potentialities. London : W.H. Allen & Co., Limited. [xiii] + 388 pp. 21 figs 64 pls. [294] [nom. nud.; McCulloch, A.R. 1930. A check-list of the fishes recorded from Australia. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 5(1–4): 1–534 (114) refers to this as a misspelling].
Mugil hypselosoma Ogilby, J.D. 1897. New genera and species of Australian fishes. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 22(1): 62-95 [74].
Type data:
Syntype(s) QM, Port Jackson and Botany Bay, NSW.
Mugil oecur Ogilby, J.D. 1897. Some Tasmanian fishes. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 1896: 69-85 [74] [description given in passing in comparison with Mugil dobula and was probably based on literature information rather than specimens and probably a misspelling of Mugil oeur Rüppell, 1838].
Type data:
Status unknown, whereabouts unknown, Moreton Bay, QLD.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

Thomson, J.M. 1954. The Mugilidae of Australia and adjacent seas. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 5(1): 70-131 figs 1-16 pls 1-2 [91]
Thomson, J.M. 1997. The Mugilidae of the world. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 41(3): 457-562 fig. 1 [483]

Introduction

Genetic studies have indicated that, as currently recognised, Mugil cephalus is a composite of isolated genetically distinct forms that probably should be treated as species (see Crosetti et al. 1994; Heras et al. 2009; Whitfield et al. 2012; Durand et al. 2012). Numerous names are available from the Indo-Pacific region and the precise geographical distribution of the various forms has not been resolved. Consequently it is not clear which name would apply to the Australian species. Some genetic studies have indicated that more than one species may be present in Australia (Durand et al. 2012)

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Horn Island, QLD (10°38´S) to Kimberley region, WA (126°35´E) and Bass Strait, TAS; tropical, temperate, circumglobal, frequently entering lower freshwater reaches of rivers.

IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Dampierland (DL), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Norfolk Island Province (21), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Central Western Shelf Transition (28), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Great Australian Bight Shelf Transition (32), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)