Common Name: Australian Goatfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Eastern Indian Ocean and Western Pacific region: Australia and off New Caledonia. In Australia it is known from the Shark Bay and Exmouth region of north-western Western Australia, coastal Queensland south New South Wales – Victorian border.

Ecological Notes: Frequents shallow inshore waters with sandy substrate. Depth 3 – 82 m, usually 20 – 30 m.

Additional Notes: This species has five or six oblique black bars on the upper caudal fin lobe, and six to eight similar bars on the lower caudal fin lobe. The upper surface is brownish in colour with white reticulations, there is a brown stripe along the sides of the body and the lower surface is pale or white. Similar, and more common, Upeneus tragula has spots on the underside of the dark stripe. Juveniles pictured here. A small species, grows to 9 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.190.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Upeneus+australiae. Accessed 12/07/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Upeneus-australiae.html. Accessed 12/07/18.