boarfish
Antigonia rubescens
About
The boarfish is a small, deep-bodied fish of the Indo-West Pacific, found from Japan south to Australia. It lives over the continental shelf and the ground below it, hanging just above the bottom rather than resting on it, at depths from 50 m down to 750 m. It grows to about 15 cm, so it is a small fish with a big outline.
Also known as: boarfish, senbei fish, boarfish, sharpsnout deepsea boarfish, sharpsnout deepsea boarfish
- Length
- 15 cm
- Depth
- up to 750 m
How to tell it apart
Other boarfishes share the same flat diamond outline and red colour, so shape and colour will not separate them. Look instead at the front of the dorsal fin: in this species one spine there is far longer than its neighbours and rises clear of the fin, giving the back a spiked profile.
Appearance
The body is very deep and squeezed flat from side to side, close to a diamond in outline, and the snout is pointed. The whole fish is reddish orange. One spine near the front of the dorsal fin, the third, stands much longer than the rest and sticks up well above the fin.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.