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Although many unrelated fish are called mullet, the true mullet are extremely active fish that travel in large schools throughout the tidal zones searching for food. One of the fish from the Perciformes order, the mullets comprise the family called Mugilidae. This fish is often seen swimming in coastal areas and in some cases are the main fish found in some tropical rivers. With close to 100 species and eleven genera, the mullet is very popular with both sports and commercial fishermen due to their fighting ability, as well as, high commercial value as a tasty fish. These fish are highly adaptable to various different saline levels and have even been found in brackish water conditions.
One of the most interesting characteristics of this fish is their unique way of feeding on the tiny organisms at the bottom of their habitat. Schools of mullet have been observed in areas that are rich with plant life feeding with their bodies at a forty five degree angle to soft surface of the bottom. This is an amazing sight, making all the fish appear as if suspended from the bottom and especially since the average length of the mullet is twenty inches or better. This type of feeding has given the mullet their generic name of sucker and is accomplished as the fish sucks up the food which is strained through their gill rakers before being passed to the throat. In some species there are additional teeth under a thin layer of skin that is used like an additional filter before the food is chewed and the inorganic materials expelled. With the exception of what is eaten off the bottom of their habitat, the diet of the mullet includes mussels, insect larvae, plankton, worms, snails and other crustaceans. Some fresh water species are known to prey on other fish such as bass, walleye and pike.
The mating season for the mullet begins in the later part of spring with the male making a show of his dominance prior to mating with a female and in some species completely changing their coloring before they mate. It is not uncommon for more than one male to mate with a single female. After spawning the female will discard around 80,000 eggs, which are coated with a jelly like adhesive, allowing them attach to any available plant life. The juveniles appear in about a week and immediately begin feeding along the bottoms. In fresh water mullet, the juveniles are often caught to raised in ponds for commerical use.
Some of the more interesting of the mullet include the striped mullet, thin lipped grey mullet, thick lipped grey mullet and the golden grey mullet. The stripped mullet is found in warmer waters such as those found in the Mediterranean. This is a very popular food fish that will commonly weigh in at around seventeen pounds. The thick lipped grey mullet is a migratory fish that is often found in small schools around the Iceland and Scandinavian coast. The thin lipped grey mullet prefers to make its home around Norway’s southern coast and in the Mediterranean Ocean. The golden gray mullet, is so named for its interesting coloration, favors the waters in the area around the Canary Islands. The genus M. curema is the mullet most often found on either coast of the United States. Although the main predator of the mullet is man, another that is known to migrate just to feed on this fish is the barracuda.
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