Indian Ocean Oriental Sweetlips

Plectorhinchus vittatus

Bislamatiklips— names this kind of animal, not this species alone

commonblackwhiteyellowstripedspottednocturnallargereef

Habitat: Reef
Max size: 83 cm
Depth: 2-25 m
Family: Haemulidae

The Indian Ocean oriental sweetlips, also known as the oriental sweetlips or oriental blubberlips, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the subfamily Plectorhinchinae, one of two subfamilies in the family Haemulidae, the grunts. It is native to the Indian Ocean and 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.

Adults of both are white with dark stripes and yellow lips or fins. Indian Ocean Oriental Sweetlips has six to twelve broad dark stripes that carry on over the belly, yellow fins with black spots and a yellow eye. Lesson's Thicklip has stripes only on the head and back -- four or five brown ones -- and a white, unstriped belly, with large brown spots on its fins and a black spot at the base of the pectoral fin.

See the Lesson's Thicklip →

Create an account to collect this fish

Log a sighting on the map