Goatfish
goatfish
Freckled goatfish
Upeneus tragula
About
A small, busy forager that works sandy bottoms near shore, using its chin feelers to feel out hidden prey. The freckled goatfish grows to about 25 cm and sifts through sand in shallow coastal water.
Also known as: bar-tailed goatfish, blackband goatfish, darkband goatfish, freckled goatfish, goatfish, red mullet, red mullet goatfish, spotted goatfish, bayabao, blackstriped goatfish, freckled goatfish, mottled goatfish, mottled goat-fish, dark band goatfish, blackstriped goatfish, dark band goat fish, bartail goatfish, bartaiedl goatfish, freckled goatfish, spotted goatfish, mottled goat-fish, bartailed goatfish, bartail goatfish, bar-tailed goatfish
- Length
- 25 cm
- Depth
- up to 42 m
How to tell it apart
Many goatfish species share this pale, spotted look and chin barbels. The mark that settles it here is a single stripe running from the tip of the snout, through the eye, to the base of the tail.
Appearance
An elongated fish with a pair of yellowish barbels (feeler-like whiskers) under its chin. The body and head are white to beige, a shade darker on the upper half, and scattered with irregular red, brown, or black spots and blotches. The tail fin carries slanted dark bars, and the first back fin has a bold blotch near its tip.
Did you know?
Unlike most reef goatfish, this species is known to swim up into the lower reaches of rivers.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
