Ornate emperor

📖 Overview

Inhabits sandy and soft bottoms and seagrass beds in inshore bays, lagoons and areas adjacent to reefs. Usually in small groups . Feeds on crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms, polychaetes and small fishes. Juveniles commonly visit the tidal reef flats to feed when the water is high . Caught by trap, handline, shore seine, trawl, and handline. Minor importance in fisheries where it occurs .

🔬 Taxonomy

🐟 Physical Description

Dorsal spines (total): 10; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 8. This species is distinguished by the following characters: body relatively deep, its depth 2.3-2.6 times in standard length. Head length 0.8-0.9 times in body depth, 2.7-3 times in SL, dorsal profile near eye convex; snout length about 2-2.5 times in HL, measured without the lip the snout is 0.9-1.1 times in cheek height, its dorsal profile nearly straight or slightly concave, snout angle relative to upper jaw between 65° and 75°; interorbital space convex; posterior nostril a longitudinal oblong opening, closer to orbit than anterior nostril; eye situated close to dorsal profile, its length 3.3-4.1 times in HL; cheek height 2.2-2.8 times in HL; lateral teeth in jaws rounded with points or molars; outer surface of maxilla usually smooth, sometimes with a longitudinal ridge. D X,9 with the 4th or 5th dorsal-fin spine the longest, its length 2.7-3.3 times in body depth; A III,8 with the first soft ray usually the longest, its length longer than length of base of soft-rayed portion of anal fin and 1.1-1.5 times in length of entire anal-fin base; pectoral-fin rays 13; pelvic-fin membranes between rays closest to body without dense melanophores; cheek without scales; 46-47 lateral-line scales; 5 ½ scale rows between lateral line and base of middle dorsal-fin spines; 15-16 scale rows in transverse series between origin of anal fin and lateral line; 13-15 rows in lower series of scales around caudal peduncle; usually 3-8 scales in supratemporal patch; inner surface of pectoral-fin base densely covered with scales; posterior angle of operculum fully scaly. Colour of body dusky whitish, lighter below, with 5-6 orange stripes; posterior edge of opercle and preopercle bright red (the former more conspicuous); head brown or tan, sometimes a red spot on lower front edge of eye; pectoral fins orangish; pelvic and anal fins, and most of dorsal fin whitish; edge of dorsal and caudal fins reddish .: fusiform / normal; Cross section: oval.

🌀 Behaviour

Behavioural data for Ornate emperor is currently being reviewed.

🦐 Diet

Diet information for Ornate emperor is currently being compiled.

🥚 Reproduction

Reproduction data for Ornate emperor is currently being compiled.

🌍 Habitat & Distribution

Marine; reef-associated; non-migratory; depth range 5 - 30 m . Tropical; 30°N - 27°S, 70°E - 154°E West Pacific: Maldives (Ref.

🌿 Ecology

📐 Morphometrics

🌡️ Water Parameters & Tolerance

🛡️ Conservation Assessment

📊 Population Risk & Fisheries

🌐 Names & Taxonomy

🐠 Related Species

🔍 Similar Species

🗺️ Global Occurrence Map

Occurrence records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) — 9 records indexed .

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