Marine life  /  Snappers, breams & sweetlips  /  Twinstripe fusilier
Reviewed 2026-09-06
Species entry

Twinstripe fusilier

Pterocaesio marri

Two yellow stripes along a blue-green body; one of the fusiliers in every mixed school.

Size
To 25 cm
Depth
3–45 m
Habitat
Open water over slopes and drop-offs
Active
Daylight
Range
Indo-Pacific
Rarity
Bali
1 star of 5, found on most dives
Twinstripe fusilier, Pterocaesio marri
Simon Buxton

To about 25 cm, slender, blue-green above and silver below with two narrow yellow stripes running the length of the body and dark tips to the tail lobes. The number and position of the yellow stripes is what separates the Pterocaesio species from each other, and doing it underwater in a moving school is not practical; a photograph is the working method.

It schools in mid-water over slopes with other fusiliers, feeding on zooplankton, and rests in the reef at night in a red-brown resting colour. Mixed schools regularly contain three or four fusilier species moving together. Recorded from about 3 to 45 m.

Where to find:

LocationRarity Best monthsDepthHabitat
Bali Indonesia editorial estimate
1 star of 5, found on most dives
Year-round
3–45 m
Open water over slopes and drop-offs
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea editorial estimate
1 star of 5, found on most dives
Year-round
3–45 m
Open water over reef
Anilao Philippines editorial estimate
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Year-round
3–40 m
Open water over reef slopes
Lembeh Strait Indonesia editorial estimate
2 stars of 5, usually seen in a week
Year-round
3–40 m
Open water over reef slopes

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.

Related species

SP
bengal snapper
16:10
Bengal snapper
Lutjanus bengalensis
SP
bigeye emperor
16:10
Bigeye emperor
Monotaxis grandoculis
SP
black snapper
16:10
Black snapper
Macolor niger
SP
black-striped salema
16:10
Black-striped salema
Brachygenys jessiae