Marine life  /  Squirrelfish & soldierfish  /  Bigscale soldierfish
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Species entry

Bigscale soldierfish

Myripristis berndti

A red soldierfish with large scales and a dark bar at the gill opening, holding in caves by day.

Size
To 30 cm
Depth
5–30 m
Habitat
Caves and overhangs
Active
Night
Range
Eastern Pacific
Rarity
Islas Revillagigedo
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
SP-01
bigscale soldierfish · full body · habitat
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To about 30 cm, common at 22. Silvery pink with red scale edges, a blunt snout, a very large eye and a projecting lower jaw. The mark is the spinous dorsal fin: yellow to orange on its outer half. The opercular membrane is black and extends below the opercular spine, and a black bar sits behind the gill cover.

That orange dorsal separates it from both of the other soldierfish at Revillagigedo.

Nought to a hundred and sixty metres, usually three to fifteen, from subtidal reef flats to outer slopes. Loose groups in caves and under ledges by day, feeding on plankton such as crab larvae at night.

Where to find:

LocationRarity Best monthsDepthHabitat
Islas Revillagigedo Mexico editorial estimate
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Year-round
5–30 m
Caves and overhangs

Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.

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