Common Name: Black Rabbitfish

Distribution: Abundant throughout the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Western Pacific region: from southern Korea, southern Japan, south to New Caledonia and Australia. Also in Caroline and Solomon Islands. In Australia recorded from around Perth in Western Australia, across the tropical north including the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to eastern Victoria, and including Lord Howe Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequents algal and seagrass flats, shallow lagoon and coastal reefs. Depth 1 – 50 m.

Additional Notes: Variable colour and blotchy markings which can change rapidly. Juveniles feed on filamentous algae, adults on seagrass and leafy alga. In northern New South Wales is often seen in company of schools of Australian Sawtail, Prionurus microlepidotus. Has venomous spines, grows to 40 cm. 

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.417.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=siganus+fuscescens. Accessed 09/07/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Siganus-fuscescens.html. Accessed 09/07/18.