Solitary Islands Underwater Research Group, Inc.

Monodactylus argenteus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Photographer: 
Ian Shaw
Date: 
Thu, 02/03/2017 (all day)
Location: 
Red Rock Estuary
Depth: 
3m
Photographer: 
Ian Shaw
Date: 
Wed, 24/07/2013 (all day)
Location: 
Red Rock Estuary
Depth: 
3m
Common Name: 
Silver Batfish
Distribution: 

Abundant in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-West Pacific region: Red Sea and East Africa to Samoa, north to the Ryuku Islands, south to New Caledonia and Australia. In Australia recorded from central Western Australia around the tropical north, the Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, south to the east coast of Victoria.

Ecological Notes: 

Frequents bays, estuaries, tidal creeks and lower reaches of freshwater streams, mangroves and silty coastal reefs. Depth to 12 m.

Additional Notes: 

Adults with silver disc shaped body, dark band through the eye and with black tipped yellow dorsal and anal fin. Juveniles (bottom photograph) more diamond shaped with yellow dorsal and anal fins, one band through eye with second band near gill cover. Feeds on zooplankton and algae. Grows to 27 cm.

References: 

R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.195.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Monodactylus+argenteus. Accessed 07/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/monodactylus-argenteus.html. Accessed 07/06/18.