Appearance and lifestyle:
Blue hottentot (Pachymetopon aeneum) are silvery bronze fish that have a blue sheen with blue heads. They have scales on their gill covers and long pectoral fins. They are often confused with bronze bream, but they can be distinguished by checking their teeth; blue hottentot have more teeth. They can grow up to 60cm and weigh up to 5kg. Once they mature at 25cm the females change their sex to male.
There is no minimum size limit, but the daily bag limit is five fish per person, per day.
Habitat:
Blue hottentot are endemic to South Africa and are plentiful off the coasts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, because they prefer deeper offshore habitats, they are not caught by shore anglers, but by ski-boat fishermen.
Diet:
Feeds on sessile invertebrates.
Threats:
Overfishing, pollution, climate change etc.