Available wild-caught, it is a coastal-dwelling marine fish, with smaller fish found in estuaries and larger fish in near-shore waters, off beaches and around offshore reefs to depths of about 35m along the eastern coast from Victoria to far north Queensland and along the western coast from southern to central WA. It is caught mainly by handlines, haul nets, traps and gillnets and is also a bycatch of inshore trawling.
It is often caught with Yellowfin Bream, from which it can be distinguished by the yellow lines along Tarwhine’s rows of scales.