Symphorus nematophorus
Chinaman snapper | Chinaman | Galloper | Thread-finned Sea Perch
Similar Species
Distribution
Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Thin broken blue stripes along body, elevated dorsal fin with long trailing filaments that reduce with age and disappear completely in large individuals. Can rapidly change colouration from plain grey to red-brown with vertical wavy dark reddish bars. Juveniles similar to Symphorichthys spilurus (Sailfin Snapper) in shape and fin pattern, but lack blotch on tail base. Sales banned in Australia because of very high risk of ciguatera poisoning.
Information
Max Size: 100 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 22.2-31.2°C
Depth: 10-100m
Habitat Generalization Index: 5.01
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: Not Evaluated
Occurrence: Infrequent (6.5% 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: Few (3 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: RD Stuart-Smith, GJ Edgar, AJ Green, IV Shaw. 2015. Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland