One of the four species of Pearl Perch family, or members of the Glaucosoma Genus found in Australia. But the only one commonly found in the Gascoyne / Ningaloo area. The others being the strait up Pearl Perch found on the east coast. The Threadfin Pearl Perch found all across the top and down as far as Exmouth. With it’s cool looking filaments trailing its dorsal, anal and tail fins. And lastly the odd cousin you may of heard of, the WA Dhufish. Our “Pearly’s” are commonly referred to as the North West Dhufish, but it may be more appropriate to call the WA Dhuie a south west Pearly. With the much larger WA Dhuie definitely being the odd one out in the family. Where our pearly looses out to the the Dhuie in size it makes up for in numbers. Commonly Schooling in large numbers and can be picked out on the sounder usually being deceptive schooling hard to the bottom covering small structure. It is found from 40m out to the early 200’s, but more commonly in numbers from 80 to 100m. From my experience they can sometimes conveniently be on the bite out of sync with other fish, often catching exclusively Pearly’s on a mark that would other times produce a good mix of other fish even absent of Pearly’s, despite their telltale show on the sounder still being present. Making them one to try out on the days most fish don’t seem hungry. Like most of the better eating reef fish, the Pearly is relatively slow growing and long lived, maturing at at about 30cm in around 4 years, with both the Males and Females reaching at least 55cm and been found to exceed 25 years of age. A top quality eater with a relatively delicate, buttery, pale, white flesh, and a mild creamy sweet flavour. Best cooked simply steamed or grilled to make the most of its quality and flavour. But hard to “stuff up” and will do well cooked almost any way. Getting its name form the east coast verity that has a bony, pearl coloured shield at the top of their gill opening. But if you want to see something cool ask me at the filleting table why they are “really” called Pearl Perch.