Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides
Spotted Sweetlips
©David Witherall and Fiona Robertson: Younger juvenile, Upolu Reef
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Actinopterygii
Order
Perciformes
Family
Haemulidae
Genus
Plectorhinchus
Species
Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides
Distinguishing features
A medium to large sized cream-white fish with numerous dark brown spots over the body and fins. Juveniles marked with a complex pattern of dark brown lines and dots, and swim in an erratic manner close to the bottom, mimicking toxic flatworms.
Size
- Up to 72 cm (Standard length)
Depth range
- Depth range data is not yet available.
Synonyms
Distribution
©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution
Distribution and habitat preferences
Areas of reef close to sand in shallow lagoons, passes and reef fronts. Usually seen resting during the day close to caves and overhangs.
Can be found on reefs near sandy bottoms in most locations around the island.
Behaviour
Sweetlips feed at night time over the sandy lagoon floor, taking molluscs and other invertebrates from the soft sediment. They ingest large mouthfuls of sand and filter the food out using their gill rakers. There is little published information on their ecology.
Web resources
References
- Jones, G.P., D.J. Ferrell and P.F. Sale (1992). Fish feeding and dynamics of soft-sediment mollusc populations in a coral reef lagoon, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 80: 175-190. LIRS catalog number 90054.