South African mullet

{{short description|Species of ray-finned fish}} {{Speciesbox | image = Liza richardsonii.JPG | taxon = Chelon richardsonii | authority = ([[Andrew Smith (zoologist)|A. Smith]], 1846) | synonyms = *''Mugil richardsonii'' A. Smith, 1846 *''Liza richardsonii'' (A. Smith, 1846) *''Mugil multilineatus'' A. Smith, 1846 | synonyms_ref = <ref name = CoF>{{Cof record|spid=33595|title=''Mugil richardsonii''|access-date=29 October 2018}}</ref> }} [[File:Buckling.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Smoked mullet or ''harder'']] [[File:Bokkoms - whole, salted and dried mullet.jpg|thumb|300px|Hanging [[bokkoms]]: whole, salted and dried mullet ([[Paternoster, Western Cape]])]]

The '''South African mullet''' (''Chelon richardsonii''), also called a '''harder mullet''' or simply '''harder''', is a species of [[Mullet (fish)|mullet]]. It is found in [[South Africa]]n coastal waters from [[Walvis Bay]] ([[Namibia]]) to [[KwaZulu-Natal]], and grows to a maximum length of {{cvt|40.5|cm}}.<ref name=FB>{{FishBase | genus = Chelon | species = richardsonii | month = May | year = 2006}}</ref> The person the [[Specific name (zoology)|specific name]] honours was not recorded by [[Andrew Smith (zoologist)|Andrew Smith]] when he [[Species description|described]] this species but it is most likely to be [[John Richardson (naturalist)|John Richardson]] (1787-1865), the [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[naturalist]], [[surgeon]] and [[Arctic exploration|Arctic explorer]].<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web | url = http://www.etyfish.org/mugiliformes/ | title = Order MUGILIFORMES (Mullets) | access-date= 26 April 2024 | author1 = Christopher Scharpf | author2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara | date = 17 September 2022|version=v. 4.0}}</ref>

It is also found inland in the waters of the [[Olifants River (Western Cape)]].<ref name=Louw>{{cite thesis|author=Tayla Susan Louw |date=August 2020|title=An exploration of the post-harvest activities of the Olifants Estuary Small-Scale Fishery: Recommendations for equitable market access and beneficiation |publisher=University of Cape Town |url=https://open.uct.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/5eee11ae-c106-488f-8e65-b0afe1ee6893/content}}</ref>

==Culinary use== Mullet caught in the sea and estuaries of the [[West Coast, Western Cape|West Coast region]] are processed by [[Salting (food)|salting]] and air-drying into [[bokkoms]] by small local factories around [[Velddrif]] and [[Laaiplek]].<ref name=Louw/>

==See also== * The common name "harder mullet" in [[Germany]] refers to the [[flathead mullet]], ''[[Mugil cephalus]]''.<ref name=FB/> * [[USS Harder (SS-257)|USS ''Harder'' (SS-257)]], a [[World War II]]-era submarine named after the fish

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Mugilidae]] [[Category:Marine fish of Southern Africa]] [[Category:Marine fish of South Africa]] [[Category:Fish described in 1846|South African mullet]] [[Category:Taxa named by Andrew Smith (zoologist)]]