Common Name: Schooling Bannerfish

Distribution: Common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: South Africa and the Red Sea, to the Hawaiian Islands, north to southern Japan, south to Australia. In Australia recorded from Shark Bay in Western Australia north to at least Rowley Shoals, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to southern New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequent outer reef slopes and current channels, may form large schools in midwater. Depth to 210 m, usually 5 – 30 m..

Additional Notes: Has a much shorter snout which distinguishes this species from similar H. acuminatus. Form pairs during breeding. Feeds on zooplankton in the water column, may also act as cleaners of other fish species. Grows to 21 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.217.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Heniochus+diphreutes. Accessed 01/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Heniochus-diphreutes.html. Accessed 01/06/18.