African Striped Grunt
Parapristipoma octolineatum
Smallmouth Grunt
Brachygenys chrysargyrea
About
The smallmouth grunt spends its days in tight schools near the reef, barely moving until dusk. Open its small mouth and you'll find a surprise: a bright red interior that gives this modest little fish some real personality.
How to tell it apart
This grunt's small mouth barely reaches the front of the eye, noticeably smaller than in most other grunts, and it's the trait its name comes from.
Appearance
This is a small, laterally flattened fish with a short snout and a small, almost horizontal mouth, the inside of which is bright red. Its background colour is silver, marked with five bronze-yellow stripes running along its sides, and every fin except the pectoral fins is partly or fully yellow. The tail fin is forked.
Habitat
It lives throughout the western Atlantic, from south Florida to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Adults favour exposed sections of coral reef and rocky coast, while juveniles shelter around reefs and in turtle grass beds.
Behaviour
This grunt is nocturnal. It rests in schools near reefs or rocks by day, then spreads out at night to feed over open water on plankton, small crustaceans, and molluscs.
Did you know?
Off the Fernando de Noronha Islands in Brazil, this grunt has been seen mimicking the yellow goatfish so closely in colour and shape that the two species form mixed schools, making it harder for sight-hunting predators to pick out an easy target.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
