‹ Fish Finder· #497
Mottled Spinefoot
Siganus fuscescens
Bislamapiko— names this kind of animal, not this species alone
- Habitat
- Reef
- Max size
- 40 cm
- Depth
- 1-50 m
- Family
- Siganidae
Siganus fuscescens, the mottled spinefoot, black rabbitfish, black spinefoot, dusky rabbitfish, fuscous rabbitfish, happy moments, mi mi, pearl-spotted spinefoot, pin-spotted spinefoot, stinging bream or West Australian rabbitfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a rabbitfish belonging to the family Siganidae. It is found in the Western Pacific Ocean.
Adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Side by side, with what tells them apart.
Both are schooling rabbitfish with venomous spines. Streamlined Spinefoot is slimmer, blue to grey above and silvery below, with small yellow spots and wavy lines on the lower sides, a yellow armpit behind the pectoral fin, a yellow stripe along the base of the dorsal fin and a deeply forked tail. Mottled Spinefoot is olive-green to brown with small pale blue spots, and its tail is less deeply forked.
See the Streamlined Spinefoot →
Two brownish rabbitfish of shallow reef flats, both with venomous fin spines. Mottled Spinefoot is olive-green to brown, silvery below, sprinkled with small pale blue spots and often a dark patch where the lateral line begins; it turns mottled only when asleep or alarmed, and reaches 40 cm. Little Spinefoot is covered all over in a maze of thin brown lines that runs onto the fins, has four or five pale bars on the tail base, and stays under 28 cm.
See the Little Spinefoot →