Common Name: Whitestreak Grubfish

Distribution: Common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the western Pacific region: Eastern Australia and possibly New Caledonia. In Australia recorded from the Torres Strait, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to around Sydney in New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequents coastal and offshore reefs and islands preferring areas of sand on low reef. Depth to 20 m.

Additional Notes: Greyish green on the back with brown scribbled pattern, nine or ten vertical brownish blotches along the side, the bottoms of the blotches being distinctly darker in colour. A dark bar from below eye to lower cheek. Relatively easy to approach and may move toward divers if the bottom is being stirred up in any way. Feeds on crustaceans and other small invertebrates. Small juvenile around 10 mm in lower photograph. Grows to 18 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.359.

Kuiter, R. H., Coastal Fishes of South-Eastern Australia. Published by Crawford House Press Pty. Ltd., 1993. pp.314, 316.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=parapercis+stricticeps. Accessed 25/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Parapercis-stricticeps.html. Accessed 25/06/18.