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Yellowtail Kingfish have elongated, moderately compressed bodies.  They have a slender head longer than their body depth and they have 31-34 dorsal fin rays.  They are generally blue, blueish-green or purplish green above and silver-white below.   Yellowtail Kingfish can be distinguished by their yellow caudal fins.

Yellowtail Kingfish are distributed globally in the cool temperate waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans off South Africa, Japan, southern Australia and the United States of America.

In Australian waters, Yellowtail Kingfish are distributed from North Reef in Queensland around the southern coast to Trigg Island in Western Australia.  They also occur off the east coast of Tasmania, around Lord How and Norfolk Islands.

They live in inshore and continental shelf waters where they are associated with reefs, jetties and pylons.  Adult yellowtail kingfish are solitary or occur in small groups and can be found near rocky shores, reefs and islands.  Schools of juveniles are generally found in offshore waters often near or beyond the continental shelf.  They prefer waters with temperatures between 18°C and 24°C, although they are occasionally found in cooler water.

The major commercial fishery for yellowtail kingfish is in New South Wales.  In Queensland, yellowtail kingfish are taken as an incidental catch in the snapper handline fishery.  They are caught by using surface or subsurface traps, trolling, bottom set longlines, poling and bottom set traps, handlines, droplines, longlines and bottom set gillnets.  They are usually marketed as whole, gilled and gutted fish.  They are sold on the domestic market in cutlet or fillet form, with better quality fish being sold for sashimi.

Yellowtail kingfish are an important species for recreational anglers, with most effort concentrated in the summer months.  They are usually taken from boats by anglers using handlines and rod-and-line, although they are occasionally taken from the shore.   Anglers often fish near traps and other fish aggregating devices..

Minimum legal sizes apply for yellowtail kingfish caught by recreational fishers in New South Wales and South Australia.  Bag limits apply for yellowtail kingfish in New South Wales and Western Australia.

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