Humpnose big-eye bream
Monotaxis grandoculis
Emperors
emperors
About
Emperors are bottom-feeding reef fish with thick lips and strong jaws for crushing shelled prey. In this app the group includes the humpnose big-eye bream, the spangled emperor, and the longface emperor.
How to tell it apart
Look for a bottom-dwelling reef fish with thick lips and a sloped or blunt snout, resting or feeding over sand and rubble near the reef. Members are told apart mainly by snout shape, since a short blunt snout with heavy teeth means a shellfish-eater and a longer sloped snout means a fish-eater, along with differences in body colour and stripes.
Appearance
Emperors have one long dorsal fin along the back and a forked tail. Their mouth has thick, fleshy lips and can push out slightly, with strong teeth at the front and, in some species, flat molar-like teeth at the sides. Sizes range from about 20 cm up to 100 cm in the largest species.
Habitat
Emperors live mainly in the tropical Indian and Western Pacific Oceans, with one species also found in the eastern Atlantic. They are coastal fish, usually found over sand and rubble near reefs.
Behaviour
Emperors are mostly nocturnal feeders, and some species move between different feeding grounds at night and resting spots during the day. Most are solitary or gather in small groups, though they can form large groups when spawning.
Diet
Emperors are bottom-feeding carnivores. Some species have strong molar-like teeth for crushing molluscs, sea urchins, and other hard-shelled prey, while others have pointed teeth for catching fish and crustaceans.
Breeding
Emperors are believed to spawn at night, sometimes gathering in large numbers to do so.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
