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Offshore / Reef

Bluebone (Blackspot Tuskfish)

Choerodon schoenleinii

Big, bull-headed reef wrasse named for the aqua-blue tint of its bones and fin spines — a hard-pulling demersal prized for its sweet white flesh. Distinct from the West Coast baldchin groper (Choerodon rubescens); the blackspot tuskfish is WA's tropical 'bluebone', found from the Houtman Abrolhos northward through the Gascoyne, Pilbara and Kimberley on coral and rubble reef in 10–60m. A managed demersal species subject to tight bag limits and the West Coast demersal closure where its range overlaps.

Size
Up to 1m and around 15kg, commonly 2–6kg
Peak season
Year-round (Gascoyne and North Coast)
Minimum size (WA)
400 mm
Bag limit (WA)
2 (1 at the Houtman Abrolhos)

Overview

Bluebone — the blackspot tuskfish, Choerodon schoenleinii — are heavy-shouldered reef wrasse named for the blue-green tint of their bones and spines. They're a distinct species from the West Coast's baldchin groper (Choerodon rubescens, the southern 'bluebone' of some anglers); the blackspot tuskfish is the bigger tropical cousin, ranging from the Houtman Abrolhos up through the Gascoyne, Pilbara and Kimberley. They live on coral and rubble reef in 10–60m, using powerful jaws and peg-like teeth to crush crabs, shellfish and sea urchins. Tuskfish hold tight to structure and bury into it on the strike, so they reward heavy gear and a fast lift. Like all WA demersals they're slow-growing and protogynous (changing sex with age), which is why the bag limits are conservative.

Identification

Also known as Blackspot tuskfish, tuskie, blue-bone groper

A heavy-shouldered wrasse with a steep forehead, thick rubbery lips and four protruding canine tusks visible with the mouth shut. Body colour runs olive-green to blue-grey with fine blue lines radiating across the cheeks, and there is a dark blotch at the base of the rear dorsal fin that gives the species its name. The confusion is with baldchin groper (Choerodon rubescens), the West Coast fish that plenty of anglers also call bluebone: baldchin are pinker, carry an obvious white patch on the chin and lower jaw, and are a southern species. Both have the blue-tinted bones.

How to Catch

Best Baits

Whole or half crab, prawn, squid, octopus, fish strip, shellfish — anything reflecting their hard-shelled natural diet

Lures

Soft plastics on heavy jigheads worked along the bottom, slow-pitch jigs (60–150g), occasionally deep-diving hard-bodies over the reef edge

Rigs

Paternoster rig with one or two dropper hooks (5/0–7/0) on a 50–80lb mono leader, enough lead to hold bottom in current. Bait fished hard on the bottom right against structure. Use heavy line and lock up on the bite — tuskfish dive straight for cover and a soft drag means a bricked fish and a lost rig.

Technique

Anchor or drift over coral and rubble reef in 10–60m and put baits hard on the bottom near broken ground. The bite is often a sharp double-tap followed by solid weight as the fish turns for cover — strike immediately and lift hard to turn its head before it reaches structure. The first few seconds decide the fight. Move spots if you don't connect within ten minutes; tuskfish are territorial and either present or not. Crabs and prawns out-fish most other baits.

Best Time

Northern WA fishes year-round, with the cooler months (May–September) offering the best weather windows in the Gascoyne and Pilbara. Anglers rate the tide changes, particularly the start of the run-in. Neap tides make bottom fishing easier than the bigger spring runs. Tuskfish feed by day, so daylight is the window.

Size & Growth

Most bluebone taken on northern reef run 2–6 kg; a fish over 8 kg is a very good one, and the headline maximum of about a metre and 15 kg is an old, deep-reef animal. They are slow-growing and long-lived by the standards of a tropical reef fish, and like most tuskfish they are protogynous — fish start as females and the larger individuals are males that have changed sex. That matters for a bag limit. Take the big fish off a patch of reef and you take the breeding males, which is precisely why DPIRD keeps tuskfish limits down to a couple of fish.

Diet & Habitat

Bluebone are shell-crushers. The tusks lever crabs, urchins, hermit crabs and molluscs off the bottom and the grinding plates in the throat do the rest — which is exactly why a crab or a prawn out-fishes a fish bait for them. They hold on coral and rubble reef, broken ground and reef edges in 10–60 m, territorial and site-attached rather than roaming, usually as singles or pairs on a patch of structure. In WA the blackspot tuskfish runs from around the Houtman Abrolhos north through the Gascoyne, Ningaloo, the Pilbara and the Kimberley, thickening up as you go north.

WA Size & Bag Limits

Minimum size 400 mm
Bag limit 2 (1 at the Houtman Abrolhos)
Counts toward Counts within the demersal scalefish mixed daily bag. A boat-based demersal closure applies in the West Coast Bioregion (Kalbarri to Augusta) until spring 2027.

Tuskfish (including bluebone) sit within WA's demersal scalefish rules. Bag limit: 2 per fisher in the West Coast Bioregion (and counted within the demersal mixed bag), 2 in other bioregions, and just 1 at the Houtman Abrolhos. Minimum size: 400mm. IMPORTANT: a boat-based demersal closure applies in the West Coast Bioregion (Kalbarri to Augusta) until spring 2027 — you cannot fish for or keep demersal scalefish, including bluebone, from a boat there during the closure (land-based fishing is exempt). Possession limit applies.

Last checked . Limits change — confirm with DPIRD before you fish.

Eating Quality

Yes — bluebone sits near the top of the reef-fish table rankings: thick, sweet, snow-white fillets with a large flake that hold together through grilling, baking, currying and battering alike. The cheeks and the fleshy wings behind the head are the prize and worth the extra few minutes with a knife. The scales are heavy and the skin thick, so most people skin the fillets rather than fight them. Mid-sized fish of 2–4 kg are the best eating; the biggest ones are still good but coarser. Bleed and ice on capture, because the flesh is firm but dulls quickly in tropical heat. It freezes well for a few months portioned and vacuum-sealed. Tropical reef fish carry some ciguatera risk generally, but tuskfish are considered low-risk in WA waters.

Where to Catch Bluebone (Blackspot Tuskfish)

14 Mile (Warroora, Ningaloo) Barn Hill Station (Broome) Cape Keraudren (Pardoo) Coral Bay (South Ningaloo) Dampier (Hampton Harbour / Dampier Archipelago) Dampier Peninsula (One Arm Point / Cape Leveque / Middle Lagoon) Exmouth (North Ningaloo / North West Cape) Honeymoon Bay (Kalumburu / McGowan Island / Napier Broome Bay) Houtman Abrolhos Islands (Wallabi / Easter / Pelsaert Groups) Mackerel Islands (Thevenard Island / Direction Island) Montebello Islands (Conservation Park / Marine Park)

Guides Featuring Bluebone (Blackspot Tuskfish)

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