Bony fish · Perciformes · Lethrinidae

Spangled Emperor

Lethrinus nebulosus

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The spangled emperor, a deep-bodied silvery fish with blue lines beneath the eyes and scattered yellow spots. It works over seagrass meadows and sandy bottoms beside reefs, crushing molluscs, urchins and crustaceans with very robust molar-like teeth. It is one of the most important inshore food fishes of the Indian Ocean.

Weight

4.6 kg on average

Size

40 cm – 87 cm

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

OceanCarnivore Colonial Fish Ocean

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Fun facts

It is a protogynous hermaphrodite: most individuals are born female and the largest turn into males, so that selective fishing for the big fish leaves the population without males.
Its rear teeth are flattened molars able to crush thick shells and urchin tests.
It is a protogynous hermaphrodite: most start out as females and some individuals change to male on reaching a certain size.
Its rear molar-like teeth are built for crushing: it eats mainly molluscs, sea urchins, crustaceans and worms it digs out of the bottom.
Juveniles use the seagrass meadows and mangroves as a nursery before moving to the reef, which makes it dependent on those coastal habitats.
It is an important fishery resource in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific, and its hermaphroditism makes it vulnerable to the selective fishing of large individuals, which are the males.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (fish)
Habitat & environment: Reefs, seagrass meadows and sandy bottoms of the Indo-Pacific, from 0 to 75 m
Sexual maturity: 6.3 years

Sources consulted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethrinus_nebulosus