Common Name: Eclipse Pigfish

Distribution: Rare in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Recorded from the Western Pacific: north to Japan, south to Sydney on the east coast of Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji. In the Indian Ocean recorded along the western coast of Malaysia and Indonesia, and in the Nicobars at the edge of the Andaman Sea. In Australia recorded from the Monte Bello islands off northern Western Australia, the north west shelf region, the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland and south to Musgrave Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequent coral rich areas of outer reef slopes, adults close to substrate. Juveniles often in caves or under overhangs. Depth to 40 m.

Additional Notes: Adults with red forebody followed by a wedge-shaped dark oblique bar then pale yellowish rear. Pale chin under jaw with black horizontal stripe from lower lip to pectoral fin base. Juveniles dark reddish colour with evenly spaced large yellow spots positioned opposite each other. Compare with adult B. axillaris, which has reddish forebody and pale rear body but does not have the dark oblique bar separating the two different colours, while the juvenile is black with evenly spaced white spots. Grows to 25 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p. 290.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://www.fishbase.se/summary/Bodianus-mesothorax.html. Accessed 27/08/2022.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=bodianus+mesothorax. Accessed 27/08/2022.