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Species: Haemulon flavolineatum, French Grunt

All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

~12 yellow stripes, lower stripes diagonal; fins yellow
juv: middle stripe v short, C base - double spot
D XII, 15 (14-16)
scales below front of LL 2X size of those above
scale rows below LL oblique

Haemulon flavolineatum (Desmarest, 1823)

French Grunt

Body oblong, compressed; body depth 34-38% of SL; head bluntly pointed, its upper profile slightly convex; rear margin of bone under eye concealed by scales; mouth small to moderate, lips not fleshy; underside of chin with 2 large pores and a central groove; preoperculum finely serrated, without spines; gill rakers 22-24; dorsal fin continuous, with small to moderate notch in middle, XII, 15 (14-16); anal rays III, 8, 2nd and 3rd spines similar; tail forked; soft dorsal and anal densely scaled nearly to the edge of the fin; scales rough; scales over entire body and head except front of snout, lips and chin; pectoral fin scaled on base only; lateral-line scales 48-49; scale rows below lateral line oblique to body axis; scales below front of lateral line ~twice size of those above line.

Adult: silvery grey; head and body with ~12 dense yellow stripes, those below lateral line oblique; all fins yellow; inside mouth red. Juvenile: 3 brown stripes: 1 from snout through eye to tail base, ending in a double brown spot on tail fin base; 1 from top of eye back to end of operculum; 1 from above eye along top of back; indistinct oblique brown lines on mid body.

Size: attains 30 cm.

Habitat: on reefs and hard bottoms; seagrass beds.

Depth: 0-89 m.

Bermuda to the southern Caribbean.


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Salinity
  • Marine
  • Marine Only
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore
  • Inshore Only
Water Column Position
  • Bottom
Habitat
  • Rocks
  • Sea anemones
  • Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
  • Submerged vegetation
  • Corals
  • Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
  • Reef and soft bottom
  • Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
FishBase Habitat
  • Reef Associated
Feeding Group
  • Carnivore
  • Data
Diet
  • Data
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
  • Mobile benthic worms
  • Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
  • Sea-stars/cucumbers/urchins
  • Sessile worms
Egg Type
  • Data
  • Pelagic
  • Pelagic larva
Global Endemism
  • All species
  • Greater Caribbean endemic
  • West Atlantic Endemic
Regional Endemism
  • Continent
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • GC endemic
  • Island (s)
  • All species
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
  • Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
  • Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
IUCN Red List
  • Least concern
  • Listed
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 30
Depth Range Min
  • 0
Depth Range Max
  • 89