[2] Distinguishing the species can be difficult, with many similar in appearance and colour, forcing the use of swim bladder morphology as a definitive feature.

[3] The genus Sillago is one of five genera in the family Sillaginidae, was previously considered to be part of the Percoidea, a suborder of the Perciformes.

[5] The name was first coined by famed taxonomist Georges Cuvier as a genus for his newly described species, Sillago acuta, which was later found to be a junior synonym of S. sihama.

Many species, both valid and invalid were added to the genus and it was not until 1985 when Roland McKay of the Queensland Museum published a revision of the family Sillaginidae that the complex relationships between these names was cleared up.

Estuarine aquaculture in India, Japan and Taiwan has utilized sillagos as an important species and similar trials have been conducted in Australia.