These fat little tunas don't have sports stripes for nothing. Size for size there is no other tuna to match it's speed and stamina. If only they grew bigger. It's a solid barrel of muscle richly supplied with blood designed to drive the small upright tail at incredible speed. It's a very good looking fish too. With steel blue to purple on the back, silvery blue down the sides and silvery white on the belly. The belly also sports six prominent dark longitudinal sports stripes - hence the name.

Generally under 6kg, and occasionally up to 9kg. Very rare record specimens attain 15kg. Stripies like clear blue water with a temperature of 18°-26°C. The visibility in such water assists their high speed feeding strategy. They will occasionally venture out of this temperature range for an abundance of baitfish.

Although they are more frequently an inshore species the range of Striped tuna does extend to the Continental shelf and beyond. They will enter large estuaries when there is not much fresh in the system and visibility is good.