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Species: Haemulon sciurus, Bluestriped grunt

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yellow + blue stripes, C & soft D black
juv: center stripe front 1/2 body, C - elongate spot below level lower stripe
juv: lower body - horizontal yellow stripes
D XII, 16-17
scales below LL oblique to body axis
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This Species (8) This Genus (14) Similar Species (3)

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Haemulon sciurus (Shaw, 1803)

Bluestriped grunt

Body oblong, compressed; body depth 36-39% of SL; head blunt, 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 27-31; dorsal fin continuous, with small to moderate notch in middle, rays XII, 16-17; anal rays III, 9, 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 48-51; scale rows below lateral line oblique to body axis.

Adult: yellow, with dense blue stripes; soft dorsal and tail fins dark, with yellow borders; pectoral, pelvic and anal fins yellow; inside mouth red. Juvenile: 3 black stripes: 1 from above eye along top of back and upper tail base; 1 thin stripe from top of eye back along lateral line of front half of body; 1 from snout through eye to tail base; an elongate black spot on base of tail fin a little below level of the lower stripe; lower body with horizontal yellow stripes.

Reaches 46 cm.

Habitat: on reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves; juveniles in seagrass beds.

Depth: 0-40 m.

S Carolina to  the southern Caribbean.

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Species Data Create Report Export as Word File Export as Excel File
Salinity
  • Brackish
  • Marine
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore Only
  • Inshore
Water Column Position
  • Bottom
Habitat
  • Mangrove
  • Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
  • Submerged vegetation
  • Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
  • Rocks
  • Reef and soft bottom
  • Corals
  • Estuary
  • Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
FishBase Habitat
  • Reef Associated
Feeding Group
  • Carnivore
  • Data
Diet
  • Sponges/seasquirts/bryozoa
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Bony fishes
  • Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
  • Data
  • Mobile benthic worms
  • Sea-stars/cucumbers/urchins
  • Sessile worms
  • Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
Egg Type
  • Data
  • Pelagic
  • Pelagic larva
Global Endemism
  • West Atlantic Endemic
  • All species.
  • Greater Caribbean non-endemic
Regional Endemism
  • Extends South of GC
  • All species..
  • Continent
  • Island (s)
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • GC non-endemic
  • Also in Brazil
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
  • Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
  • Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
IUCN Red List
  • Least concern
  • Listed
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 46
Depth Range Min
  • 0
Depth Range Max
  • 40