Bandtail waspfish
A small red waspfish of Indonesia and the Philippines, with a white face and a tall front dorsal fin.
A very small waspfish, recorded to about 5 cm, with a short, deep body and a dorsal fin of 15 spines and 7 soft rays. The first spines rise high above the eye, so the fin stands up like a crest. The fish photographed here is red with a pale face. The longspine waspfish, Paracentropogon longispinis, is very similar and grows larger. A whitish bar across the base of the tail fin is the feature most often used to separate the bandtail waspfish, so a photograph that shows the tail is needed to be sure.
It lives on rocky bottoms and in crevices in coral reef, between about 10 and 40 m. Like other waspfishes it stays close to the bottom and relies on its colour and shape to avoid notice.
As in other waspfishes, the fin spines are venomous, so the fish should not be handled. The published range is the Philippines and Indonesia, and the IUCN Red List assesses it as Least Concern. Little else is recorded about its biology.
Where to find:
This species has no location record on this site yet. Its range is given above.
