Can anyone help ID this fish?

[Bream_Hunter]

Hi guys,

I'm still waiting on the boffins at DPI to give me their opinion of this fish.

Consensus both here and on other sites/platforms are that it is either a Herring or a Grayling.

Forsterfisho - I also have Grants Freshwater Fish, although my issue is pretty old, however you are correct in pointing out that the grayling has an auxillary dorsal fin, this leads me to believe that it is a Herring.

Piscateur - I have a confirmed location although I am going to be very vague, it was caught in an open system on the NSW coast, not in an enclosed system as I was lead to believe. This does narrow it down a lot and I know for a fact that Herring are in existence in the location.

Stompy - Don't feel bad mate, my missus says the same thing to me hahaha.

EP - I was certain it was a Grayling, I have never seen one live and I trust your words when you say that you have caught them, it is the auxillary fin that is throwing me off. If it is a Grayling then this would be another species previously unknown in this particular system, according to the established research the Grayling is listed as vulnerable and was considered extinct until the late 70's, there have also been only small pockets of wild fish recorded in NSW with none reported in this system to date. This poses a question of if it is a grayling, and is reported to DPI as a known sighting then DPI could institute some sort of temporary exclusion zone in the area which leaves me in two minds about such a thing, in a way I'd like to see a ban on any form of fishing in the system, but being an avid bass fan this would leave me and others in the know unable to continue our C & R logs of the area.

Bruns - Cheers for the input mate, it is definitely a head scratcher this one.

Silva - Haha yeah it certainly is a greedy little bastard, the sammy knock off it has in it's mouth is 2/3rds of it's size. I wonder how it thought it was going to get it down in one go?

[Piscateur]

All points to the Grayling but on all pics of the grayling the dorsal is further back more towards the tail than the head. Where the pictured fish has the dorsal fin closer to the head than the tail.

[Piranha]

I would guess that looks like a herring, grayling have a slightly slimmer, shallower profile

find out if the fish had a bad odor and it may make it clearer

[chasenash]

My very first thought when I looked at the picture was a juvenile short finned pike. . So I've no idea.

Would you or the original poster mind if I emailed it to someone that may have an idea?