Common Name: Epaulette Soldierfish

Distribution: Common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: East Africa south to Natal, east to French Polynesia and Hawaii, north to Japan, south to Australia. In Australia recorded from around Exmouth and the North West Shelf in Western Australia, the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to northern New South Wales and including Lord Howe Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequent lagoons and reef flats, seaward reefs below the surge zone, especially near overhangs and caves. Depth range 0 – 65 m.

Additional Notes: Body red dorsally, silvery pink below, often with red blotches on dorsal, anal and tail fins. Similar Myripristis murdjan has much larger scales. Schools in overhangs, caverns or caves by day, feeds on plankton at night. Grows to 26 cm. 

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.58.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=myripristis+kuntee. Accessed 08/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Myripristis-kuntee.html. Accessed 08/06/18.