Species

Garfish

A slender silver arrow with a long, toothed beak that moves to the coasts to spawn in spring and is known for its green bones.

Belone belone

Photo: Thomas Vogt from Paderborn, Deutschland, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, adjusted to 3:2

Spawning: Mainly May to June in shallow water, the eggs stick to stones and plants with sticky threads (general guide, varies by region)
German Red List: not threatened
Typical method: Float fishing with fish strips just below the surface
Top bait: Herring strips

Plan a day fishing for Garfish

How to recognise it

Very slender, long body, blue-green back and silvery grey belly
Both jaws extended into a tweezer-like, toothed beak, the lower jaw slightly longer
Only one dorsal fin, set far back opposite the anal fin just before the tail

Easily confused with: Looks like the Atlantic saury, which stays smaller and has 5 to 7 small finlets between the dorsal and anal fins and the tail fin; the garfish has no finlets.

How to catch it

Methods: Float fishing with fish strips just below the surface, Lure fishing (spinning) with slim spoons, Sbirolino fishing

Baits: Herring strips, Mackerel strips, Slim coastal spoon, Small hard lure

In spring, when the shoals move into shallow water to spawn, and in warm summer weeks; in daytime close to the surface.

Habitat and food

Northeast Atlantic from Iceland and northern Norway through the North Sea and western Baltic Sea to the Bay of Biscay, with separate subspecies in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. A shoaling fish living just below the surface that makes long feeding migrations similar to the mackerel (Wikipedia). Moves into shallow water in April and May and spawns over seagrass beds, returning to the open sea in autumn (English Wikipedia).

A daytime predator hunting small fish such as sand eels, young herring, sardines and anchovies (Wikipedia), plus free-swimming crustaceans (English Wikipedia).

Size and age

Up to about 90 cm and 1.3 kg, usually 45 to 70 cm and rarely over 1 kg (Wikipedia). FishBase: max. 104 cm, common length 45 cm (standard length), max. published weight 1.4 kg.

Protection and rules

Conservation status: German Red List (marine fish 2025): not threatened, population moderately common, strong short-term decline. IUCN: not threatened (Least Concern, 2012).

We found no minimum size or closed season for this species in any state fisheries regulation. Local water rules may still apply.

Check the rules

Closed seasons and minimum sizes are set by each German state and can be stricter for single waters. All rules by state, with the legal source

In the kitchen

White flesh, sold fresh, as fillets, grilled or baked (Wikipedia). The bones turn green when cooked, caused by the harmless pigment biliverdin.

Sources (5)

Last checked 2026-10-13. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].

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