morwong

About this species

The porae, the grey morwong, blue morwong, butterfish, Douglas' morwong, Eastern blue morwong, great perch, queen snapper, rubberlip morwong or silver morwong, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, traditionally regarded as belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, the members of which are commonly known as morwongs. It is found around south eastern Australia and the north eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand at depths of about 10 to 100 metres, on sandy and rocky coasts.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Porae”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 91 records
February: 114 records
March: 119 records
April: 137 records
May: 148 records
June: 126 records
July: 111 records
August: 139 records
September: 122 records
October: 239 records
November: 192 records
December: 187 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 25–147 m · Deepest record: 290 m

0–10 m: 25 records
10–20 m: 42 records
20–30 m: 236 records
30–40 m: 38 records
40–50 m: 79 records
50–60 m: 55 records
60–70 m: 74 records
70–80 m: 36 records
80–90 m: 39 records
90–100 m: 28 records
100–110 m: 62 records
110+ m: 565 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 14–24 °C

14–16 °C: 16 records
16–18 °C: 102 records
18–20 °C: 118 records
20–22 °C: 170 records
22–24 °C: 10 records

Photos

(c) Shaun Lee, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bryce Watts-Parker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lawrence Hylton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Oscar Dove, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Oscar Dove, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: morwong

Other scientific names: Cheilodactylus douglasii, Cheilodactylus morwong, Chilodactylus douglasii, Chilodactylus morwong, Nemadactylus douglasi, Nemadactylus morwong

Similar species

Deep Sea Perch
Nemadactylus macropterus
Blue Morwong
Nemadactylus valenciennesi
Five fingers
Nemadactylus monodactylus
Banded Morwong
Chirodactylus spectabilis
Black Butterfish
Dactylophora nigricans
Crested Morwong
Goniistius vestitus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,711 open-data records from 1898 to 2017.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.