The largest squirrelfish, with a venomous cheek spine and a habit of holding one crevice.
To about 45 cm, red with a large red-orange patch behind the eye, silver-white lower flanks and a long sharp spine on the rear edge of the cheek bone. It is the largest member of its family and the cheek spine is venomous — a genuine consideration when reaching into a crevice, though not a threat to a diver keeping hands off the reef.
It holds a fixed shelter under an overhang or in a crevice by day, generally alone rather than in the groups formed by soldierfishes, and hunts crabs, shrimps and small fish over reef and rubble at night. It faces outward from its shelter and backs deeper in when approached, so the practical photograph is taken from a distance with a longer lens rather than by closing in. Recorded from about 3 to 40 m.
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.