Common Name: Two-line Monocle Bream

Distribution: Common throughout the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-West Pacific region: from the Maldives and the Laccadive Islands to Fiji, north to southern Japan, south to Lord Howe Island. Recently reported from Tonga. In Australia recorded from Geraldton in Western Australia, across the tropical north including the Gulf of Carpentaria, Torres Strait and the Coral Sea, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to central New South Wales, and including Lord Howe Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequents coral reefs where it is common. Adults in most reef habitats, juveniles inshore or in lagoons or rubble zones. Depth 1 – 25 m.

Additional Notes: Distinct rounded dark cap in adult, juvenile with black and yellow stripes on upper body, pale below, mimics Linespot Fangblenny, Meiacanthus grammistes.  Sometimes seen in small aggregations. Feed on sand and rubble flats on small fishes and benthic invertebrates sifted from the sand. Grows to 25 cm. 

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.173.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Scolopsis+bilineata. Accessed 07/07/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Scolopsis-bilineata.html. Accessed 07/07/18.