Orange Goatfish, Mulloidichthys pfluegeri (Steindachner 1900)

Other Names: Red Goatfish, Rosy Goatfish

Summary:

A pale orange to reddish-orange goatfish becoming white below, with a reddish-orange head, often four wide bright red bands on the sides from below the first dorsal fin to the caudal peduncle, reddish-orange fins with a white margin on the second dorsal and anal fins.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2020, Mulloidichthys pfluegeri in Fishes of Australia, accessed 04 Apr 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/5374

Orange Goatfish, Mulloidichthys pfluegeri (Steindachner 1900)

More Info

Distribution	Outer Great Barrier Reef, Queensland ('Unnamed Reef', Myrmidon Reef and Viper Reef, Frederick Reef) in depths of 54-103 m. Elsewhere the species occurs in the Indo-West Pacific: Mascarenes; eastern Indonesia east to the Hawaiian Islands and the Marquesas Islands, north to Ryukyu Islands (southern Japan), south to Tonga. Individuals or pairs feed over sand flats near coral reefs.
Features	Pectoral fin 17-18; Gill rakers 6-7 + 19-22 = 26-29; Lateral-line scales 35-37. Body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 26.2-32.3% SL
Feeding	Feeds over sand flats, often becoming strongly patterned with four broad dark bars along the sides.
Species Citation	Mulloides pfluegeri Steindachner 1900, Anzeiger der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe 37(16): 174. Type locality: Honolulu, Oahu Island, Hawaiian Islands.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2020
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Orange Goatfish, Mulloidichthys pfluegeri (Steindachner 1900)

References

Koeda, K., Maekawa, T., Wada, H. & Motomura, H. 2016. Records of the orange goatfish, Mulloidichthys pflugeri (Teleostei: Mullidae), from Amami-oshima and Yonaguni-jima islands in the Ryukyu Archipelago, southern Japan. South Pacific Studies 37(1): 1-8.

Randall, J.E. 2001. Mullidae. pp. 3175-3200 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 5 2791-3379 pp.

Randall, J.E. 2005. Reef and shore fishes of the South Pacific. New Caledonia to Tahiti and the Pitcairn Islands. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press 707 pp.

Sih, T.L., Cappo, M. & Kingsford, M.J. 2017. Deep-reef fish assemblages of the Great Barrier Reef shelf-break (Australia). Science Reports 7: 10886 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11452-1

Smith-Vaniz, W.F. & Williams, I. 2016. Mulloidichthys pfluegeri. (errata version published in 2017) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T69181847A115457996. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T69181847A69183254.en. Downloaded on 12 September 2017.

Steindachner, F. 1900. Fische aus dem Stillen Ocean. Ergebnisse einer Reise nach dem Pacific (Schauinsland, 1896-1897). Anzeiger der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Wien 37(16): 174-178

Steindachner, F. 1900. Fische aus dem Stillen Ocean. Ergebnisse einer Reise nach dem Pacific (Schauinsland, 1896-97). Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse 70: 483-521.

Uiblein, F. 2011. Taxonomic review of western Indian Ocean goatfishes of the genus Mulloidichthys (Family Mullidae), with description of a new species and remarks on colour and body form variation in Indo-West Pacific species. Smithiana, Publications in Aquatic Biodiversity, Bulletin 13: 51-73 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/117243