Spotted Sandperch

The spotted sandperch spends its time propped up on the seabed on splayed fins, watching for prey rather than swimming freely. It is a slender fish, roughly five times as long as it is deep.

Also known as: speckled sandperch

Several sandperches in the region look alike, but the row of white spots with black centres along this species' flank, paired with the black-spotted tail fin, gives it away.

The front half of the body is rounded and the back half is flatter, with eyes set close together on top of the head. The upper body is greenish, dappled with dark brown, fading to pale grey on the flanks and white below. A row of large white spots, each with one or more small black dots in the centre, runs along the side. There is a black spot at the base of the dorsal fin's front spines and a larger black spot on the tail fin. Females show brown spots on the head, while males have diagonal yellowish-brown marks on the cheek.

It lives on sandy or rubble ground in shallow water, sheltered by nearby reefs. Its range covers the western Indo-Pacific, from the east coast of Africa and the Red Sea to Sri Lanka and Sumatra.

It hunts small crustaceans, other invertebrates, and small fish from its resting spot on the bottom. Every fish starts life as a female, and some later change into males, taking on new markings as they do. Males hold a territory and guard a group of females.