Common Name: Crown Squirrelfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: Red Sea and East Africa to the Hawaiian and Pitcairn islands, north to the Ryukyu and Ogasawara islands, south to northern Australia and Lord Howe Island. Throughout Micronesia. In Australia recorded from around Exmouth and the North West Shelf region of Western Australia, the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, south to around Sydney in New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequents clear water lagoons, coral and rocky reefs, offshore islands, depth to 60m, commonly to 30 m in caves and under overhangs.

Additional Notes: Bright red with around nine thin silver stripes. The raised dorsal fin has reddish-black membranes, and there is a diffuse white patch over the caudal peduncle. There is a black pectoral fin spot, and a small venomous preopercula spine. Ventures forth from caves and overhangs at night to feed on polychaete worms, crustaceans and molluscs. Similar S. ittodai has less distinct white stripes that are approximately equal in width to the adjoining spaces, and lacks the white patch on tail base. Grows to 17 cm but commonly 13 cm.

References: Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Sargocentron+diadema. Accessed 08/03/2023.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://www.fishbase.ca/summary/Sargocentron-diadema.html. Accessed 08/03/2023