Caranx spp.
Photo: Barry Coleman
What to look for
Deep, compressed silver bodies with a forked tail and a line of hard scutes along the rear of the lateral line. Bigeyes have, as the name says, a big eye and a small dark spot on the gill cover, and they school; giant trevally are heavier, darker and often alone. Trevally schools regularly circle a diver who stays still, close enough to feel the water move.
The hunt
Watch the edge of a fusilier school or a cloud of baitfish on the reef crest: the sudden explosion of silver is a trevally strike. Dawn and dusk are the busiest times. On the Port Douglas bommies the trevally, barracuda and reef sharks all work the same current points, which is why those sites deliver.
Where to see it
Dive with us to see it
You might also see
- BarracudaSilver schools that hang in the blue off the bommies, sometimes hundreds thick, with a few solitary big ones.
- Grey reef sharkThe classic reef shark: a stocky grey patroller of walls, drop-offs and current points, often in groups.
- Coral troutThe reef’s most handsome predator: bright red with a scatter of blue spots, lurking by the bommies.
