Common Name: Gold Spot Emperor

Distribution: Common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific: East Africa to the Tuamoto Islands, north to Japan, south to Australia. In Australia recorded from Western Australia, the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea, south to northern New South Wales. Also reported from Norfolk Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequents subtidal reef flats, lagoons and seaward reefs. Depth to 30 m.

Additional Notes: Colour may be variable, silver to brown according to habitat with darker back and light belly, but yellow patch below rear of dorsal fin is constant. Usually found in small schools, and occasionally up to several hundred individuals. Nocturnal predator, feeding on small molluscs, crabs and other crustaceans. Grows to 30 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.176.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Gnathodentex+aurilineatus. Accessed 27/05/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Gnathodentex-aurilineatus.html. Accessed 27/07/18.