Fish

White steenbras

Lithognathus lithognathus

A silvery, long-snouted seabream of sandy shallows, faintly barred and endemic to South Africa.

Also known as pignose grunter, white steenbras bream, witsteenbras

White steenbras
Photo: FishWise Professional · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Habitat
Sandy shallows, surf and estuaries

The white steenbras is a silvery seabream with fairly large scales and a long, protrusible snout used to root prey out of the sand. Young fish carry about seven wide dark crossbars that fade with age. It is a shallow-water endemic, one of three Lithognathus species in the region.

It frequents sandy shallows, surf and estuaries, and is a classic shore-angling target that has become heavily depleted and protected.

Seen at these spots