Common Name: Barred Soapfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-West Pacific: Maldives and India to Papua New Guinea, north to southern Japan, south to Lord Howe Island. In Australia recorded from northern Western Australia, across the tropical north, through Queensland and south to northern New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequents caves and crevices in inshore areas, rocky reef, estuaries. Semi silty conditions, to at least 100 m depth.

Additional Notes: Adults pale to bright yellow, body sometimes black with bright yellow fins, see bottom photograph. Juvenile top photograph, adult middle and lower photograph. Feeds on small fishes which it swallows whole using its greatly extendable mouth parts. Secretes the skin toxin grammistin under stress. 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.90.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Diploprion-bifasciatum.html. Accessed 24/05/18.