Queen Snapper (Blue Morwong)
Reef / OffshoreWA's 'queen snapper' is the blue morwong — a handsome southern reef fish with bright blue-and-yellow facial markings, NOT a Lutjanid snapper. Endemic to southern Australia, it holds on deeper reef and ledges along the lower west and South Coast. A demersal scalefish managed under the West Coast closure and the demersal mixed bag, and very good eating.
Overview
In WA, 'queen snapper' means the blue morwong (Nemadactylus valenciennesi) — a striking southern reef fish, silvery-blue with vivid blue and yellow lines around the eyes, and a member of the morwong family rather than a true snapper. (It's worth knowing the name clash: on the east coast 'queen snapper' refers to an entirely different fish.) The WA blue morwong is endemic to southern Australia and holds on deeper reef, ledges and broken ground along the lower west and South Coast, from around the metro reefs south and east into the Great Australian Bight fringe. It's a demersal scalefish, primarily a boat-caught reef fish in 20–100m, and a prized table fish. As a West Coast bioregion demersal species it's caught up in the boat-based demersal closure, so check current arrangements before targeting it there.
Identification
Blue morwong, southern blue morwong
In WA, 'queen snapper' means the blue morwong (Nemadactylus valenciennesi) — a morwong, not a snapper, and not the fish the same name is attached to on the east coast. Worth knowing before you trust a size limit or a recipe you found online. The fish itself is hard to mistake: a deep, silvery-blue body, a small mouth with thick fleshy lips, a long-based dorsal fin, and the giveaway — vivid blue and yellow bands running across the face and around the eye. Morwongs also carry a distinctively long, thickened lower pectoral ray they prop on the bottom with. Nothing in the Lutjanid snapper family looks remotely like it.
How to Catch
Squid, octopus, fish fillet (mullet, scaly mackerel), prawn, pilchard
Soft plastics on 1/2–1oz jigheads, micro and slow-pitch jigs (60–150g), bait jigs
Paternoster rig with two 4/0–6/0 circle hooks on 40–60lb mono leader and enough lead to hold bottom over reef in current. A running sinker rig with a single circle hook also works. As with all reef demersals, strong terminals and immediate lift off the bottom on the strike keep them out of the structure.
Drift or anchor over deeper reef edges, ledges and broken ground in 20–100m, dropping baits or plastics to the bottom and working them just above the structure. Blue morwong hold close to reef and feed on crustaceans and small fish, so position baits tight to the structure and lift the moment you feel weight. Slow-pitch jigging produces fish when they're active. Tide changes trigger the bite.
Available year-round in the South West and on the South Coast, with the more settled-weather windows offering the best access to offshore reef. Tide changes drive the bite; neap tides make bottom-fishing in deeper water easier. Dawn and dusk are most productive.
Up to 90cm and ~7kg, commonly 1.5–4kg
Year-round (South West / South Coast)
Size & Growth
Most blue morwong come over the side at 1.5–4kg and 40–60cm. A good one is over 60cm and 5kg; the species reaches around 90cm and 7kg, and a fish at that end is a standout rather than a normal day's catch. They're slow-growing and long-lived by reef-fish standards — a big blue morwong is many years old, not a fast-grown fish — which is a large part of why they sit inside the demersal mixed bag alongside dhufish and pink snapper. A fish at the 40cm minimum is a young one; the good fish on the deeper ledges have been there a long time.
Diet & Habitat
Blue morwong feed on the bottom, taking crustaceans, molluscs, worms and small fish off reef and the rubble at its edges — the thick lips and small mouth suit grubbing rather than chasing. They hold on deeper reef, ledges, caves and broken ground, most commonly in 20–100m, and sit tight to structure rather than roam. In WA they're a southern fish: the deeper metro reefs, the South West grounds off Bunbury, Busselton and Augusta, and the South Coast out of Albany, Bremer Bay and Esperance. Numbers thin out north of the metro area — this is not a Gascoyne or Pilbara species.
WA Size & Bag Limits
| Minimum size | 40 cm |
|---|---|
| Bag limit | 2 (West Coast); 1 (Abrolhos); 4 (other bioregions) |
| Counts toward | Counts within the demersal scalefish mixed daily bag (4 outside the West Coast). A boat-based demersal closure applies in the West Coast bioregion, Kalbarri to Augusta, until at least Spring 2027. |
Queen snapper / blue morwong (Nemadactylus valenciennesi): minimum size 400mm. It's a demersal scalefish — bag limit 2 in the West Coast bioregion, 1 at the Abrolhos, and 4 in other bioregions, all counted within the demersal mixed daily bag (4 outside the West Coast). IMPORTANT: a boat-based demersal closure applies in the West Coast bioregion (Kalbarri to Augusta) until at least Spring 2027.
Eating Quality
Very good — firm, white, moist flesh with a medium flake and a clean, mild flavour that holds together grilled, pan-fried or baked whole. Bleed and ice on capture; like most reef demersals the quality drops noticeably if it sits warm on the deck. A well-regarded southern table fish, on a par with other quality reef demersals, if a shade behind dhufish and baldchin. Mid-sized fish of 2–3kg are the pick — finer flesh and fillets of a sensible thickness — while big ones give thick loins better suited to cutlets or baking than a quick pan-fry. The skin is thick and worth removing. It freezes reasonably well for a demersal if you vacuum-seal it, though fresh is clearly better.
Perth Tips
Deeper metro and South West reefs and the South Coast grounds out of Albany and Esperance hold blue morwong. Don't confuse the name — in WA this is a morwong, not a Lutjanid; the bright blue-and-yellow eye markings are the giveaway. Mind the West Coast boat-based demersal closure; if it's in force, this is a fish to target outside that zone or to release. Fish baits tight to the reef and lift hard on the strike.