Listen to the Song – The Golden Traveller
The Golden Grey Mullet
The complete lyrics are included in the companion book, Our Jewels in the Water, allowing readers to follow every song while discovering the remarkable stories behind our freshwater and migratory fish.
Enjoying the music?
The companion book Our Jewels in the Water includes the full lyrics, additional stories, exclusive photographs and beautiful illustrations for every species.
“Across the meeting place of river and sea travels a flash of silver touched with gold — following tides older than memory.”
Species Profile
The Golden Grey Mullet (Chelon auratus) is an elegant member of the grey mullet family, Mugilidae.
Its name comes from one of its most attractive identifying features — a distinctive golden patch on the gill cover, which can catch the light beautifully as the fish turns in the water.
With its streamlined silver body and powerful tail, the Golden Grey Mullet is built for travelling through coastal waters, estuaries, lagoons and sheltered bays.
Like other grey mullet, it is comfortable in waters where salinity can change considerably.
Although primarily associated with marine and brackish environments, its ability to explore estuarine waters makes it another fascinating link between our rivers and the sea.
A silver fish carrying a touch of gold.
The Golden Traveller.
Clive’s Story
One of the pleasures of learning about the different grey mullet is discovering that what initially appears to be simply another silver fish can tell a very different story.
Look carefully at the Golden Grey Mullet and there is a clue to its identity.
That little golden marking near the gill cover transforms an otherwise silver fish.
When sunlight catches it beneath the water, you can imagine why the fish acquired its name.
As anglers and naturalists, those little details matter.
The shape of a lip.
The position of a fin.
A patch of colour.
They are the clues that allow us to discover exactly which jewel we are looking at.
And with the Golden Grey Mullet, nature has kindly provided us with a little touch of gold.
Natural History
The Golden Grey Mullet inhabits coastal waters, estuaries, lagoons and other sheltered areas where marine and freshwater influences may meet.
It is an adaptable fish capable of tolerating variations in salinity.
Golden Grey Mullet may form shoals and travel through coastal and estuarine habitats in search of suitable feeding areas.
Their diet includes algae, organic material, detritus and small aquatic organisms gathered as the fish browse and feed.
Like other mullet, they play an interesting ecological role by consuming material from the lower levels of the aquatic food web.
Seasonal movements are influenced by water temperature, food availability and reproduction.
This ability to move through different environments makes the Golden Grey Mullet another genuine aquatic traveller.
Interesting Facts
- Scientific name: Chelon auratus
- Family: Mugilidae.
- A member of the grey mullet family.
- Distinguished by a characteristic golden marking on the gill cover.
- Has a streamlined silver-grey body.
- Found mainly in coastal and brackish waters.
- Uses estuaries, lagoons and sheltered coastal habitats.
- Can tolerate changing levels of salinity.
- Often forms shoals.
- Feeds on algae, detritus and small aquatic organisms.
- Closely related to Britain’s other grey mullet species.
- Identification often depends upon looking carefully at relatively small physical features.
Behind the Song
When writing The Golden Traveller, I wanted to capture both the appearance of this beautiful fish and its wandering life.
Most of the body is silver.
Then the fish turns beneath the sunlight and suddenly there is that little flash of gold.
It seems almost like nature has placed a badge upon the fish to tell us exactly who it is.
But the song is also about movement.
The Golden Grey Mullet belongs to those fascinating waters where boundaries disappear.
River becomes estuary.
Estuary becomes coast.
Freshwater mixes with salt.
And through those changing waters the fish continues travelling.
That combination gave the song its name:
The Golden Traveller.
Conservation
The Golden Grey Mullet depends upon healthy coastal and estuarine ecosystems.
These environments are amongst the most productive habitats we possess, but they are also particularly vulnerable to human pressure.
Pollution, development, habitat loss, plastics and declining water quality can all affect the complicated web of life found where rivers meet the sea.
Protecting estuaries therefore protects far more than a single species.
It safeguards nursery areas, feeding grounds and migration corridors used by an extraordinary variety of fish and other wildlife.
Every clean river eventually contributes to a healthier estuary.
And every healthy estuary contributes to a healthier sea.
Clive’s Reflection
The Golden Grey Mullet completes another part of the remarkable story told by our mullet.
The Thick-lipped Grey Mullet gave us The River Train.
The Thin-lipped Grey Mullet became The Silver Brackish Shadow.
And now the Golden Grey Mullet becomes The Golden Traveller.
Three related fish.
Three different identities.
And three reminders that the boundary between freshwater and saltwater is never quite as simple as it appears.
For me, the little golden mark on this fish is particularly appropriate for Our Jewels in the Water.
Amongst all that silver, nature has added just a touch of gold.
And perhaps that is enough to remind us to look more carefully at every fish we encounter.
Because sometimes the smallest detail reveals an entirely different story.
“Where silver waters meet the sea, look carefully — you may just catch a traveller carrying a touch of gold.”