Skipjack Trevally (Skippy)

Also known as Skippy, silver trevally, white trevally, sand trevally

A deep, laterally compressed silver fish with a yellow-green wash over the back, a small dark blotch on the gill cover, yellow tinges in the fins, and the hard bony scutes along the rear of the lateral line that mark every trevally. Small skippies get confused with herring on a jetty, but a skippy is deeper-bodied, blunter in the face, and those scutes are unmistakable once you've run a thumb along them. Bigger fish are sold and talked about as silver or white trevally — same species. The tropical golden and giant trevally don't turn up in Perth.

Decent eating — white, firm flesh with a slightly stronger flavour than whiting, and a dark bloodline down the fillet worth trimming out. Bleed and ice them immediately; like most trevally the flesh goes soft and metallic if the fish sits warm on a jetty. Smaller fish are often better on the plate — a 30 cm skippy is sweet and clean, while big old ones get coarse and can be strong. Crumb or batter the fillets and fry, or grill them skin-on; the flesh is firm enough to hold together in a curry or a chowder. A well-bled bigger fish is good raw as sashimi on the day. They freeze better than herring or tailor, though the texture firms up, so use frozen fillets for crumbing rather than pan-frying.