Common Name: Lesser Queenfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: from the Red Sea and East Africa to Hawaii, Marquesas, Line and Tuamoto islands, north to southern Japan, south to Rapa and New South Wales. In Australia recorded from Shark Bay in Western Australia, across the tropical north, including the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to southern New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Adults frequent clear lagoons and seaward reefs, juveniles in estuaries and brackish inshore waters. Depth to 100 m. 

Additional Notes: Two rows of dark silver blotches, the top row with five to eight, the bottom row commonly three or four. Pelagic species, often seen singly or in small loose groups. Adults feed on small fish and crustaceans, juveniles on body scales and epidermal tissue from other schooling fishes. Sought after sport fish, grows to 110 cm but commonly 60 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.143.

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

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