This website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience and ensure the functionality of our site. For more detailed information about the types of cookies we use and how we protect your privacy, please visit our Privacy Information page.

×

Cookie Settings

This website uses different types of cookies to enhance your experience. Please select your preferences below:

Opistognathus decorus
Opistognathus decorus Smith-Vaniz & Yoshino, 1985
Tattooedj jawfish

Family:  Opistognathidae (Jawfishes)
Max. size:  15.5 cm SL (male/unsexed)
Environment:  demersal; marine; depth range 120 - 140 m
Distribution:  Western Pacific: Japan (Ryukyu Is., Okinawa) to Indonesia (Sulawesi).
Diagnosis:  Dorsal spines (total): 11-12; Dorsal soft rays (total): 12-12; Anal spines: 2-2; Anal soft rays: 11-11; Vertebrae: 26-26. This species is distinguished by the following characters: with a rigid upper jaw lacking flexible lamina posteriorly, extending about 1.2 to 1.5 eye diameters behind posterior margin of orbit; infraorbitals are very broad and robust, the third infraorbital with no suborbital shelf; D XI-XII, 12 (usually XI,12); A II,11; vertebrae 10+16; scale rows in horizontal series 56-67; total gill rakers 41-44. Colouration: in life, body with 5-7 violet-blue stripes and head with prominent violet-blue blotches (Ref, 128653).
Biology:  This species is probably a deep-water species, similar to its sister-species Opistognathus aurolineatus (reflected in the depth range given) (Ref. 128653). Mouthbrooders (Ref. 240).
IUCN Red List Status: Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


Source and more info: www.fishbase.org. For personal, classroom, and other internal use only. Not for publication.