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FISH GUIDE · Sea

Thinlip grey mullet: identification, habitat and fishing guide

Chelon ramada

Thinlip grey mullet link marine, brackish and sometimes river habitats. A controlled presentation in accessible current provides the starting point here, with identification kept distinct from golden grey mullet.

Catalogue names : Thinlip grey mullet. Forms and names may vary between habitats.

Editorial review : · This species guide is not permission to fish. Read the precautions below and check the current rules for your location before targeting a species. Some species or populations are protected.

Geographical distribution

Documented in the Northeast Atlantic south to Senegal and Cape Verde, in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Sea of Azov, and in coastal-connected fresh and brackish waters. Some more southerly tropical records are uncertain.

  • Documented presence : Northeast Atlantic
  • Documented presence : Mediterranean Sea
  • Documented presence : Black Sea
  • Documented presence : Adriatic Sea
  • Documented presence : Sea of Azov

Documented areas, not an exhaustive list. Presence in a region does not imply presence in every water body or permission to fish.

Distribution sources

Identification

Chelon ramada has a thin upper lip and a dark spot at the base of its pectoral fins. Features are easier to read in profile than in a surface silhouette. Compare several details with other mullet; neither a large size nor a poorly visible mouth is enough to identify the species.

Habitat

It occurs especially in estuaries, lagoons and lower river reaches, then reproduces at sea. This guide remains focused on coastal and brackish-water fishing. A fish swimming up a river does not make fishing rights identical on either side of administrative boundaries.

Diet

An omnivore as an adult, it eats algae, organic matter and small bottom-dwelling organisms; young fish eat zooplankton.

Behaviour

It takes food associated with bottom material and organic matter, including small organisms. The suggested approach favours bait following a lane of current, but a shoal moving upstream may simply be travelling. Observe pauses and feeding rather than just the number of visible fish.

Indicative biological size

Commonly around 35 cm according to DORIS; a descriptive indication.

Fishing context and precautions

  1. From a stable, permitted bank, identify a steady current bordered by a slower area. Rig a float that lets you follow the passage and a hooklength with a single hook.
  2. Bait a small portion of marine worm with the point exposed and present it upstream of the area observed. Adjust the depth to follow the layer where fish feed without ploughing the bottom.
  3. Follow with the rod, then lift out before the next eddy or obstacle. If the float always dives at the same spot, check the depth and debris.
  4. Establish contact on a sustained pull and maintain progressive tension. Land with the net from the safe bank position prepared.

A distinctive feature

It can grow in fresh or brackish water but returns to the sea to reproduce.

Sources and review

Each reference includes its access date. Overall editorial review: . Local conditions and regulations may change.

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