Marine life  /  Squirrelfish & soldierfish
9 of 1316 species
Group

Squirrelfish & soldierfish

Red fish with very large eyes, packed under ledges and in caves by day and out over the reef at night. The eye size is the whole story: these are nocturnal hunters that spend the daylight hours waiting.

Species
9
Depth
3–40 m
Rarity range
1 star of 5, found on most divesto 3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Night only
9
Can hurt a diver
2
Destinations
11

The soldierfish of the genus Myripristis are shorter and deeper-bodied than the squirrelfish and often hang upside down against a cave roof. Both make audible clicks and grunts with the swim bladder, which carries through the water.

Several carry a sharp spine on the gill cover, and the group is best not handled for that reason.

A cave with soldierfish in it by day is worth returning to at night, when it will be empty of them and holding something else.

9 species

Photographed first, then commonest

9 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 9 carry a record at each destination. A species usually carries several, so these do not add up to 9.

Islas Revillagigedo 4 Florida 3 Bahamas 3 Cayman Islands 3 Lembeh Strait 2 Anilao 2 Bali 2 Papua New Guinea 2 Dauin & Dumaguete 1 Galapagos Islands 1 Cocos Island 1

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 Morwongs & trumpeters 4 Parrotfish 16 Pufferfish & boxfish 23 Rabbitfish 5 Scorpionfish & lionfish 47 Seahorses & pipefish 53 Shrimpgobies 17 Snappers, breams & sweetlips 39 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.

← Snappers, breams & sweetlips Surgeonfish & unicornfish →