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IDnature guides

• Checklist Australia Vertebrata
• Fish
• SFTEP

Overview Main identification features

• yellow stripe: snout through eye
• body and fins brown
• tail fin base: white band
• pectoral: 1/3 yellow

Dorsal rays IX, 25-27; anal rays III, 23-25; pectoral rays 16-17; gill rakers on first arch 16-24; body depth 1.9-2.3 in standard length; length of caudal spine 4.4-5.7 in head; caudal fin strongly concave.

Purplish grey to brown, outer third of pectoral fin yellowish; yellow area around and in front of eye; base of tail fin often with white bar; can quickly assume a very pale grey coloration with numerous dark wavy lines on the side.

Size: 70 cm.

Habitat: generally seen in sandy areas.

Depth: 1-100 m.

Widespread in the tropical Indo-Pacific from East Africa to the Americas; in the eastern Pacific it ranges from the mouth of the Gulf of California to Ecuador and all the oceanic islands.

Attributes

Abundance: Common.

Cites: Not listed.

Climate Zone: Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap); Northern Tropical (Mexican Province to Nicaragua + Revillagigedos); Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo).

Depth Range Max: 100 m.

Depth Range Min: 1 m.

Diet: soft corals/hydroids; benthic microalgae; detritus.

Eastern Pacific Range: Northern limit=26; Southern limit=-2; Western limit=-115; Eastern limit=-78; Latitudinal range=28; Longitudinal range=37.

Egg Type: Pelagic; Pelagic larva.

Feeding Group: Herbivore.

FishBase Habitat: Reef Associated.

Global Endemism: Indo-Pacific only (Indian + Pacific Oceans); TEP non-endemic; "Transpacific" (East + Central &/or West Pacific); All species.

Habitat: Corals; Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom); Sand & gravel; Rocks; Soft bottom (mud, sand,gravel, beach, estuary & mangrove); Reef (rock &/or coral); Reef and soft bottom.

Inshore Offshore: Inshore; Inshore Only.

IUCN Red List: Not evaluated / Listed.

Length Max: 70 cm.

Regional Endemism: Island (s); Continent; Continent + Island (s); Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic; Eastern Pacific non-endemic; All species.

Residency: Resident.

Salinity: Marine; Marine Only.

Water Column Position: Bottom; Bottom only;

Names Scientific source:

• Integrated Taxonomic Information System

Links to other sites

• Fishbase
• Catalog of Fishes
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System

References

• Aburto-Oropeza , O. and Balart, E. F., 2001., Community structure of reef fish in several habitats of a rocky reef in the Gulf of California., Marine Ecology, 22:283-305.
• Acosta Salmón , H. and Martínez Fernández, E., 2000., Propuesta preliminar ... de concha nacar (Pteria sterna Gould, 1851) en la Bahía de la Paz, Baja California Sur, México. En Aburto Oropeza, O. y C. A. Sánchez Ortiz (Eds.). Recursos arrecifales del Golfo de California, …., Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur:95-106.
• Allen , G.R. and Robertson, D.R., 1997., An Annotated Checklist of the fishes of Clipperton Atoll, Tropical Eastern Pacific., Revista de Biologia Tropical, 45:813-843.
• Breder, C.M. Jr., 1936., Scientific results of the second oceanographic expedition of the "Pawnee" 1926. Heterosomata to Pediculati from Panama to Lower California., Bull. Bingham Oceanogr. Collect. Yale Univ., 2(3):1-56.
• Béarez, P., 1996., Lista de los Peces Marinos del Ecuador Continental., Revista de Biologia Tropical, 44:731-741.
• Castro-Aguirre , J. L. , Balart , E. F. and Arvizu-Martínez, J., 1995., Contribución al conocimiento del origen y distribución de la ictiofauna del Golfo de California, México., Hidrobiologica, 5:57-78.
• Castro-Aguirre, J.L. and Balart, E.F., 2002., La ictiofauna de las islas Revillagigedos y sus relaciones zoogeograficas, con comentarios acerca de su origen y evolucion. En: Lozano-Vilano, M. L. (Ed.). Libro Jubilar en Honor al Dr. Salvador Contreras Balderas., Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León:153-170.
• Castro-Aguirre, J.L., 1999., Ictiofauna estuarino-lagunar y vicaria de México., Editorial Limusa S.A. de C.V.: 1-629pp.
• Cuesta, T.C., 1932., Lista de los peces de las costas de la Baja California., Inst. Biol. Mexico, Anal, 3(1):75-80.
• Cuvier , G. and Valenciennes, A., 1835., Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome dixième. Suite du livre neuvième. Scombéroïdes. Livre dixième. De la famille des Teuthyes. Livre onzième. De la famille des Taenioïdes. Livre douzième. Des Athérines., Histoire Naturelle Des Poissons, 10:1-482.
• Edgar, G.J. Banks, S., Fariña, J.M., Calvopiña, M. and Martínez, C., 2004., Regional biogeography of shallow reef fish and macro-invertebrate communities in the Galapagos archipelago., Journal of Biogeography, 31:1107-1124.
• Findley, L.T., Hendrickx, M.E., Brusca, R.C., van der Heiden, A.M., Hastings, P.A., Torre, J., 2003., Diversidad de la Macrofauna Marina del Golfo de California, Mexico., CD-ROM versión 1.0. Projecto de la Macrofauna del Golfo .  Derechos reservados de los autores y Conservación Internacional.
• Fischer , W. , Krup , F. , Schneider , W. , Sommer , C. , Carpenter , K. E. and Niem, V. H., 1995., Guia FAO para la Identificacion de Especies de para los fines de la Pesca. Pacifico Centro-Oriental. Volumen II. Vertebrados - Parte 1., FAO2:647-1200.
• Fowler, H.W., 1916., Cold-Blooded Vertebrates from Costa Rica and the Canal Zone., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 68:389-414.
• Galván-Magaña, F., Abitia-Cárdenas, L.A., Rodríguez-Romero, J., Pérez-España, H., Chávez-Ramos, H., 1996., Systematics list of the fishes from Cerralvo island, Baja California Sur, Mexico., Ciencias Marinas, 22:295-311.
• Humann, P., 1993., Reef Fish Identification: Galapagos., New World Publishing:192pp.
• Jimenez-Prado, P., Béarez, P., 2004., Peces marinos del Ecuador continental / Marine fishes of continental Ecuador., SIMBIOE/NAZCA/IFEA tomo 1 y 2.
• Lopez , M. I. and Bussing, W. A., 1982., Lista provisional de los peces marinos de la Costa Rica., Revista de Biologia Tropical, 30(1):5-26.
• Love, M.S., Mecklenburg, C.W., Mecklenburg, T.A., Thorsteinson, L.K., 2005., es of the West Coast and Alaska: a checklist of North Pacific and Artic Ocena species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border., U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, 288pp.
• Madrid Vera , J. , Ruíz Luna , A. and Rosado Bravo, I., 1998., Peces de la plataforma continental de Michoacán y sus relaciones regionales en el Pacífico mexicano., Revista de Biologia Tropical, 42(2):267-276.
• McCosker , J.E. and Rosenblatt, R.H., 1975., Fishes collected at Malpelo Island. In Graham, J.B. (ed.) The Biological Investigation of Malpelo Island, Colombia., Smithsonian Contrib. Zool., 176:91-93.
• Meek , S.E. and Hildebrand, S.F., 1928., The marine fishes of Panama. Part III., Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser. Publ., XV:709-1045.
• Orellana, J.J., 1985., Marine Fishes of Los Cóbanos: Fishes of El Salvador., Sigma Found:126pp.
• Osburn , R. C. and Nichols, J. T., 1916., Shore Fishes Collected by the 'Albatross' Expedition in Lower California with Descriptions of New Species., Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 35:139-181.
• Robertson , D.R. and Allen, G.A., 1996., Zoogeography of the shorefish fauna of Clipperton Atoll., Coral Reefs, 15:121-131.
• Rosenblatt , R.H. , McCosker , J.E. and Rubinoff, I., 1972., Indo-west Pacific fishes from the Gulf of Chiriqui, Panama., Contrib. Sci. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co., 234:18pp.
• Rubio, E.A., 1986., Notas sobre la ictiofauna de la Isla de Gorgona, Colombia., Boletin Ecotropica. Univ. Bog. Jorge Tadeo Lozano, 13:86-112.
• Rubio, E.A., 1990., Ictiofauna Indopacifica asociada a los corales de la Isla de Gorgona., Revista de Ciencias, 2:97-105.
• Sánchez Ortíz , C. , Arreola Robles , J. L. , Aburto Oropeza , O. and Cortés Hernández, M., 1997., Peces de arrecife en la región de La Paz, B.C.S.. En Urbán Ramírez, J. y M. Ramírez Rodríguez (Eds.). La Bahía de La Paz investigación y conservación., Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur:189-200.
• Thomson , D.A. , Findley , L.T. and Kerstitch, A.N., 2000., Reef fishes of the Sea of Cortez., University of Texas Press(Revised Ed.):353.
• Van der Heiden , A. M. and Findley, L. T., 1988., Lista de los peces marinos del sur de Sinaloa, México., Anales del Centro de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia de la Universidad Autonoma Nacional de Mexico, 15:209-224.
• Vega, A.J., Villareal, N., 2003., Peces asociados a arrecifes y manglares en el Parque Nacional Coiba., Tecnociencia, 5:65-76.
• Villareal-Cavazos, A., Reyes-Bonilla, H., Bermúdez-Almada, B. and Arizpe-Covarrubias, O., 2000., Los peces del arrecife de Cabo Pulmo, Golfo de California, México: Lista sistemática y aspectos de abundancia y biogeografía., Rev. Biol. Trop., 48:413-424.

Acknowledgements

• Ross Robertson, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

I thank Ashley MacDonald and John Pickering, University of Georgia, for technical support in building this page.