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To sixty centimetres. A species of inshore waters, either in mud flats or about rocky coasts of the North Island, it is abundant south to East Cape while very occasional stragglers are known from Cook Strait. Its food is seaweed, mostly small soft kinds, and small animals in mud and about rocks. The teeth are chisel-shaped, each with three points, and ideal for grazing off rocks. Its colour is a dark brownish-green with narrow darker vertical bands; colour, teeth, and a small slightly turned down mouth are clear features of this species. In Australia it is called blackfish, luderick or nigger. There are good numbers of these fish in New Zealand waters in weights of up to three kilograms as local anglers seldom target them and there is no commercial fishery for them. Not well regarded as a table fish, but when cleaned immediately after being killed, with the black stomach lining removed, they are quite edible.
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