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The trumpeter whiting, ''Sillago maculata'', (also known as the winter whiting or diver whiting) is a common species of coastal marine fish of the smelt-whiting family, Sillaginidae. The trumpeter whiting is endemic to Australia, inhabiting the eastern seaboard from southern New South Wales to northern Queensland. The species is found in bays, estuaries, coastal lakes and mangrove creeks on silty and muddy substrates in waters ranging from 0 to 30 m deep, occasionally inhabiting sandy and seagrass beds. The trumpeter whiting is a benthic carnivore, consuming a variety of crustaceans, polychaetes and molluscs, with a dietary shift occurring as they mature and move into deeper waters. The species spawns during summer, with young fish often penetrating into estuaries and seagrass beds. The species is highly sought after by both recreational and commercial fishermen, with the fish highly regarded as a table food. The trumpeter whiting has two close relatives, the oriental trumpeter whiting and the western trumpeter whiting, which can be easily confused with ''S. maculata''. ==Taxonomy and naming== The trumpeter whiting is one of 29 species in the genus ''Sillago'', which is one of three genera in the smelt-whiting family Sillaginidae. The smelt-whitings are Perciformes in the suborder Percoidea. The species was first scientifically described by Quoy and Gaimard in 1824 from specimens collected from the waters of Sydney Harbour in New South Wales, Australia. A specimen from this location was also designated to be the holotype. The species was subsequently redescribed under the name of ''Sillago gracilis'' by Alleyne and Macleay in 1877, which is a junior synonym and has been discarded under the ICZN rules. Roland McKay, whilst working on a revision of the sillaginids, found there to be three closely related species of 'trumpeter whiting'; the western trumpeter whiting, the oriental trumpeter whiting and the trumpeter whiting which he interpreted to be subspecies. He therefore assigned the trumpeter whiting the name ''Sillago maculata maculata'' to clarify its subspecies status, doing similar for the other two species. However, soon after publishing, more specimens came to light which validated giving the three subspecies full species status, and the trumpeter whiting once again returned to the binomial ''Sillago maculata''. The common name of the species, trumpeter whiting, refers to the grunting sound the fish makes when first taken from the water,〔 with a number of other species of unrelated fish also known to do this. The names 'winter' and 'diver' whiting are in reference to the high catches made in winter by amateur fishermen and the depth at which larger individuals of the species inhabit respectively.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「trumpeter whiting」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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