Species: Opistognathus lonchurus, Moustache jawfish
body: 3 thin blue stripes
fins yellow + blue stripes
Opistognathus lonchurus Jordan & Gilbert, 1882
Moustache jawfish
Elongate, compressed, tapering body; large bulbous head; eye large, high; front nostril a short tube without a cirrus; mouth terminal, large, extends well to rear of eye; rear of top jaw oval, only slightly expanded; front of roof of mouth with teeth; gill rakers 34-62; fin spines flexible;dorsal and anal fins with long bases; dorsal XI, 12-13; anal III, 12-13; pelvic fins I, 5, outer 2 rays stout and unbranched, inner 3 rays weaker and branched, outer soft ray not tightly bound to next ray, fin short, fin base before the pectoral; tail rounded, shorter than head, ~25% of SL; lateral line on front half of body only, high; scales small, smooth, none on head.
Head and body yellowish-brown; top lips and iris blue; a blue stripe along cheek onto operculum; inner lining of top jaw and adjacent membranes pale; two thin blue stripes along mid flank from the operculum to the base of the tail fin, another blue line along upper body; dorsal and anal fins pale orange with blue stripes along their bases, edges and centers; tail with orange-yellow rays, blue membranes between the rays, and blue top and bottom edges.
Reaches 15.2 cm.
In burrows on silty sand and rubble bottoms.
Depth range: 10-101 m.
S Carolina to Brazil.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Sand & gravel
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Bony fishes
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Brooded
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- All species.
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent + Island (s)
- Extends North of GC
- Continent
- Extends South of GC
- Extends N + S of GC
- Island (s)
- All species..
- Also in Brazil
- GC non-endemic
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 15.2
- Depth Range Min
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- 10
- Depth Range Max
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- 101
