Common Name: Banded Goatfish

Distribution: Common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Pacific Ocean: from Christmas Island in the Eastern Indian Ocean to the Hawaiian, Line, Marquesan and Tuamoto Islands, north to souther Japan, south to the Rapa Islands. In Australia recorded from Exmouth in Western Australia across the tropical north to the Coral Sea and Great Barrrier Reef in Queensland, south to southern New South Wales and including Lord Howe Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequents coastal and offshore reefs, over sand and rubble flats and coral bottoms in shallow lagoons. Depth 3 – 161 m.

Additional Notes: Variable colouration from pale, almost white, to dark reddish colour, short blue edged black stripe behind eye and a series of broad black saddles separated by lighter bands. Juveniles often with other species, feed primarily on crabs and other crustaceans, molluscs demersal fish eggs and brittle stars and heart urchins found in the sediment. Grows to 35 cms.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.189.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=parupeneus+multifasciatus. Accessed 27/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/parupeneus-multifasciatus.html. Accessed 27/06/18.