Common Name: Spothead Grubfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-West Pacific: India and Sri Lanka to Tonga, Ryukyu Islands and the Great Barrier Reef to the Marshall Islands and Samoa. In Australia recorded from Exmouth in Western Australia, across the tropical north to the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, south to northern New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequents areas of open sand and rubble, open lagoons and seaward reefs, current prone channels, as well as on rocky surfaces among coral. Depth range 3 – 50 m.

Additional Notes: White or yellow streak on tail, row of black centred dark spots on lower side, distinct white margined black spot behind the eye of large males, and a group of small spots on the cheek below and behind the eye. Usually seen perching on the bottom, darting after prey, which consists of benthic invertebrates and small fish. Grows to 24 cm.

References: John E. Randall, Gerald R. Allen, Roger C. Steene, Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea, 2nd Edition, 1997. Published by Crawford House Publishing Pty Ltd. p.359.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=parapercis+clathrata. Accessed 22/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Parapercis-clathrata.html. Accessed 22/06/18.