Description

Dorsal spines (total): 12 - 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 10; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 8; Vertebrae: 24. This species is distinguished from all its congeners by the following set of characters: body deep, becoming compressed and slender with growth; D XII,10; the first 2 dorsal-fin spines are rudimentary (2 dorsal-fin spines on 1st dorsal pterygiophore), 3DFS longest (1.0-1.3, mean 1.2, in 3DFS/4DFS), third spine not reaching beyond first soft dorsal-fin ray origin, and less than head length; orbit diameter is subequal to suborbital depth. Colouration: body uniform pink with belly silvery and chin white, all fins pink. This species is often being confused with A. filamentosus and juveniles of A. spinifer; but it differs by having red spinous dorsal-fin rays (vs. yellow orange in true A. filamentosus from South Africa and Mozambique); also the third spinous dorsal-fin spine is longest (vs. third and fourth spines very elongate in A. filamentous and longest in A. spinifer) (Ref. 124569).

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Teleostei

Order: Eupercaria/misc

Family: Sparidae

Genus: Argyrops

Species: Argyrops megalommatus (Klunzinger, 1870)

Climate Zone

Location

• Western Indian Ocean, Red and possibly Gulf of Aden.

Biology

Usually caught on reefs, and feeds on benthic organisms and according to D. Golani (HUJF), this species is collected in deeper waters at 100-400 m (Ref. 124569).

Habitat

demersal

Conservation Status

Data deficient

Threat to Humans

Harmless