Blackblotch squirrelfish
(Sargocentron melanospilos)
Image source: Jo's Animal Database
General data
Sargocentron melanospilos, the blackbotch squirrelfish, is a species of squirrelfish in the genus of Sargocentron.
It is found in the Indo-Pacific region in the Red Sea; Zanzibar, Tanzania; from Aldabra and Seychelles to the Marshall Islands and American Samoa; north to Taiwan, southern Japan and the Ogasawara Islands, and south to the southern Great Barrier Reef and the Chesterfield Islands.
It is a relatively uncommon inhabitant of rocky reefs and coral-rich areas, and is usually seen solitary, but it also forms schools when in deeper water or oceanic areas.
Max length: 25 cm TL
Body with red and white stripes following the scale rows; black blotch at base of soft dorsal, anal, and caudal fins, but may be faint or absent in caudal and anal fins.
Uniformly small ctenii on posterior margin of scales of body. Inferior mouth due to hypertrophy of median part of upper lip (front of upper lip thickened and slightly protruding)
