Marine life  /  Morwongs & trumpeters
4 of 1316 species
Group

Morwongs & trumpeters

Temperate bottom fish with thickened lower pectoral fin rays they prop themselves on. Southern Australian reef fauna, and one of the clearest signs on this site that a dive is in cold water rather than warm.

Species
4
Depth
1–40 m
Rarity range
1 star of 5, found on most divesto 3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Night only
None
Can hurt a diver
None
Destinations
1

They rest on the bottom rather than hovering over it, which is what the thickened rays are for, and they let a diver come close before moving off a short distance and settling again. The red morwong is one of the commonest fish on New South Wales rocky reef and is normally the first thing photographed there.

The group here spans two families and is held together by that habit and by where it lives rather than by relationship. The bastard trumpeter schools in kelp in Tasmania and Victoria and behaves differently from the rest.

4 species

Photographed first, then commonest

4 written up, none photographed yet

Every one has a page. They are shown as a list rather than as pictures because nothing has been photographed or logged for them yet, and a species with nothing behind it should not sit in front of one that has.

Where they are recorded

How many of the 4 carry a record at each destination. A species usually carries several, so these do not add up to 4.

Australia 4

The other groups

Anemonefish 11 Angelfish 25 Batfish 3 Blennies 26 Butterflyfish 35 Cardinalfish 13 Damselfish 32 Dottybacks 5 Dragonets 5 Eels & garden eels 18 Flatfish 8 Frogfish & anglers 26 Goatfish 8 Gobies & dartfish 29 Groupers & anthias 42 Hawkfish 5 Jacks & open-water fish 29 Jawfish 4 Lizardfish & flatheads 10 Morays 26 Parrotfish 16 Pufferfish & boxfish 23 Rabbitfish 5 Scorpionfish & lionfish 47 Seahorses & pipefish 53 Shrimpgobies 17 Snappers, breams & sweetlips 39 Squirrelfish & soldierfish 9 Surgeonfish & unicornfish 26 Triggerfish & filefish 25 Trumpetfish & cornetfish 4 Wrasses 56 Other fish 46 Sharks & rays 63 Turtles, sea snakes & crocodiles 11 Marine mammals & birds 10 Cephalopods 36 Nudibranchs & sea slugs 137 Sea snails & shells 26 Shrimps 38 Mantis shrimps 5 Crabs 45 Hermit crabs 10 Lobsters & squat lobsters 13 Isopods & parasitic crustaceans 5 Amphipods 2 Sea stars 18 Brittle stars & basket stars 7 Feather stars 2 Sea urchins 23 Sea cucumbers 12 Worms 11 Flatworms 3 Jellyfish & stinging drifters 10 Anemones & zoanthids 12 Corals & sponges 29 Sea squirts 4 Blackwater & plankton 52 Other invertebrates 2

All 1316 species in one index, with filters for destination, rarity and hazard.

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