Neoniphon sammara

Neoniphon sammara, the sammara squirrelfish, also known as the blood-spot squirrelfish, slender squirrelfish, spotfin squirrelfish, armed squirrel-fish or javelin squirrelfish, is a species squirrelfish found in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean from East Africa to the Hawaiian Islands.[2] It feeds on shrimps and small crabs and fish at night[1] and can grow up to 32.0 centimetres (12.6 in) TL in length, though its common length is only 23.0 centimetres (9.1 in) TL. Like N. opercularis, it has a venomous spine on its preopercle.[2]

Sammara squirrelfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Actinopterygii
Order:
Beryciformes
Family:
Holocentridae
Subfamily:
Holocentrinae
Genus:
Neoniphon
Species:
N. sammara
Binomial name
Neoniphon sammara
Forsskål, 1775

Habitat

N. sammara lives alone or in small groups on seagrass beds and hard substrates in reef flats and lagoons. It can be found at depths between 0 and 46 metres (0 and 151 ft). Of its genus, it is the most likely to be found in shallow waters and it is often associated with Acropora corals,[2] which it will use as shelter during the day.[1]

Commercial use

N. sammara is not a commonly-eaten fish, but is common in the Indian aquarium trade. It can also be used as bait for tuna fisheries.[1]

References
  1. Williams, I. & Greenfield, D. (2016). "Neoniphon sammara". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2016: e.T67871355A115438968. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T67871355A67871880.en. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2016). "Neoniphon sammara" in FishBase. December 2016 version.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.