National Fish Of South Africa is the Galjoen ... Coracinus capensis
The Galjoen is found only along the South African coast. It keeps to mostly
shallow water, is often found in rough surf and sometimes right next to the
shore and is known to every angler. Near rocks the colour of the Galjoen is
almost completely black, while in sandy areas the colour is silver-bronze.
It is also known in KwaZulu-Natal as blackfish or black bream. The record size is over 55 cm and 7 kg, however the average is much smaller. The Galjoen is a game fighter. The diet of the Galjoen consists mainly of red bait (ascidians), small mussels and barnacles. The scales are very firmly attached. The fins are well developed with prominent spines.
The galjoen belongs to the bream marine bream family of fish (Coracinus capensis) It grows to 55 cm in length, with a weight up to 7 kg )15 lbs)
The galjoen is also known as blackfish
The suggestion to make the Galjoen South Africas national fish came from the late Margaret Smith, sometime Director of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology in Grahamstown. As early as the 1950 version of her husbands book The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa (by JLB Smith), the following is said of the Galjoen: Probably the first typical fish to be noticed by the earlier settlers. It might well be selected as a marine emblem to rank with the Springbok and the Protea. Whereas the Galjoens national status has for some years been given in inverted commas in South Africa, in 1992 it is at long last listed as the national marine emblem, without inverted commas
supplied with permission from South African History Online: www.sahistory.org.za
