Haemulon maculicauda
Spottail grunt
Similar Species
Same Genus
Distribution
Tropical Eastern Pacific
Description
Slightly reddish, grey body with light spots on scale centres forming lines along body, tail dark maroon, or often showing large rounded dark spot on base. Forms large schools around coastal reefs during the day, dispersing over sand areas at night.
Information
Max Size: 30 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 25.4-30.3°C
Depth: 1-33m
Habitat Generalization Index: 10.45
Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.
Conservation and Rarity
IUCN Status: Least Concern
Occurrence: Common (22.6% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Large aggregations (131 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Joe Shields