Common Name: Blacktail Grubfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Western Pacific region: Australia and New Caledonia. In Australia recorded from the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to northern New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequents reef and rubble habitats. Often seen perching upon pectoral fins on sand ridges. Depth to 27 m.

Additional Notes: Pale brown dorsally, whitish from the midline down, dorsal surface with dark spots and streaks, two streaks, one above the other, on side with spots and vertical bars forming rectangles, each with blotch in the centre. Large black blotch on tail. Feeds on small fish and invertebrates. Recently separated from Parapercis hexopthtalma, now known to be an Indian Ocean species. Grows to 13 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.357.
Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=parapercis+queenslandica. Accessed 22/06/18.

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