Striped Scat, Selenotoca multifasciata (Richardson 1846)


Other Names: Banded Scat, Barred Scat, Butterfish, John Dory, Johnny Dory, Old Maid, Southern Butter-fish, Striped Butterfish

Striped Scat, Selenotoca multifasciata. Source: Sabine Hoeng. License: All rights reserved

Summary:

A greenish to pale silvery-grey scat with dark vertical bars along the upper sides, several faint dusky horizontal lines on the lower side, and black lips. Juveniles have small spots in vertical rows on the lower side, and narrow black margins on the rear of the caudal fin and soft portions of anal and dorsal fins (juvs smaller than about 6 cm SL) .


Cite this page as:
Gomon, M.F. & Bray, D.J. 2018, Selenotoca multifasciata in Fishes of Australia, accessed 09 Dec 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/2213

Striped Scat, Selenotoca multifasciata (Richardson 1846)

More Info


Distribution

Widespread in northern Australia from Shark Bay, Western Australia, to Sydney, New South Wales. Elsewhere the species occurs in the west Pacific - Sulawesi, New Guinea and New Caledonia. 
Inhabits bays, estuaries, mangrove creeks and the lower reaches of freshwater rivers and streams. Juveniles commonly enter freshwater streams, while adults often form schools over sandy areas in estuaries and river mouths. 

Features

Dorsal fin XII, 16; Anal fin IV, 15-16; Pectoral fin 17; Pelvic fin I, 5.
Body quadrangular, strongly compressed. Dorsal head profile steep. Eye moderately large, its diameter somewhat smaller than snout length. Snout rounded. Mouth small, horizontal, not protractile. Teeth villiform, in several rows on jaws; gill membrane not forming a free fold across isthmus.
Scales small, ctenoid covering head, body, caudal fin, and soft parts of anal and dorsal fins; lateral line distinct following back profile.
First dorsal-fin spine procumbent, a deep notch between spinous and soft parts of dorsal fin. Caudal fin from rounded (in juveniles) to truncate; posterior margin of soft portions of dorsal and anal fins oblique.

Size

To around 28 cm SL.

Colour

Greenish or silvery with numerous dark, vertical bars on upper sides and spots, usually smaller than eye, more or less arranged in vertical rows on lower side; lips black; posterior edge of caudal fin and soft portions of anal and dorsal fins with a narrow black margin which disappear in specimens larger than about 6 cm standard length.

Feeding

Omnivorous, feeding on small benthic invertebrates and detritus.

Biology

Little is known of the reproductive biology of this species.

Fisheries

Often taken by recreational anglers in estuaries. 

Remarks

The fin spines are venomous and cause painful wounds.

Species Citation

Scatophagus multifasciatus Richardson, 1846, Zool. Erebus & Terror 2: 57. Type locality: King George Sound, Western Australia (probably in error as it is outside the known distribution of this species).

Author

Gomon, M.F. & Bray, D.J. 2018

Resources

Australian Faunal Directory

Striped Scat, Selenotoca multifasciata (Richardson 1846)

References


Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 292 pp. 106 pls.

Allen, G.R., Midgley, S.H. & Allen, M. 2002. Field Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Australia.  Perth : Western Australian Museum 394 pp.

Allen, G.R. & Swainston, R. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A field guide for anglers and divers. Perth, WA : Western Australian Museum vi 201 pp., 70 pls. 

Castelnau, F.L. de 1878. Notes on the fishes of the Norman River. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 3(1): 41-51 (as Scatophagus altermans)

De Vis, C.W. 1882. Queensland Philosophical Society. Brisbane Courier 1882(3 June): 5 (as Scatophagus semistrigatusSee ref. at BHL

De Vis, C.W. 1884. New fishes in the Queensland Museum. No. 2. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 1 9(3): 453-462 (as Scatophagus aetatevariansSee ref. at BHL

Dove, A.D.M. & O’Donoghue, P.J. 2005. Trichodinids (Ciliophora: Trichodinidae) from Native and Exotic Australian Freshwater Fishes. Acta Protozool. 44: 51-60.

Grant, E.M. 1975. Guide to Fishes. Brisbane : Queensland Government, Co-ordinator General’s Department 640 pp. 

Hitchcock, G., Finn, M.A., Burrows, D.W., & Johnson, J.W. 2012. Fishes from fresh and brackish waters of islands in Torres Strait, far north Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 56(1): 14-24 

Johnson, J.W. 1999. Annotated checklist of the fishes of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 43(2): 709-762

Johnson, J.W. 2010. Fishes of the Moreton Bay Marine Park and adjacent continental shelf waters, Queensland, Australia. pp. 299-353 in Davie, P.J.F. & Phillips, J.A. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Marine Biological Workshop, The Marine Fauna and Flora of Moreton Bay. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 54(3)

Kottelat, M. 2001. Scatophagidae.  pp. 3623–3626 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. 6 pp. 3381–4218

Kottelat, M. 2013. The fishes of the inland waters of southeast Asia: a catalogue and core bibiography of the fishes known to occur in freshwaters, mangroves and estuaries. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 27: 1-663.

Kuiter, R.H. 1992. Tropical Reef-Fishes of the Western Pacific, Indonesia and Adjacent Waters. Jakarta : PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama 314 pp. pls. 

Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 437 pp. 

Kuiter, R.H. & Debelius, H. 2001. Surgeonfishes, Rabbitfishes and Their Relatives. A comprehensive guide to Acanthuroidei. Chorleywood, U.K. : TMC Publishing 208 pp. 

Lake, J.S. 1978. Australian Freshwater Fishes. Melbourne : Thomas Nelson 160 pp. 140 figs. 

Larson, H.K. & Williams, R.S. 1997. Darwin Harbour fishes: a survey and annotated checklist. pp. 339-380 in Hanley, H.R., Caswell, G., Megirian, D. & Larson, H.K. (eds). The Marine Flora and Fauna of Darwin Harbour, Northern Territory, Australia. Proceedings of the Sixth International Marine Biology Workshop. Darwin : Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory 466 pp. 

Marshall, T.C. 1964. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coastal Waters of Queensland. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 566 pp. 136 pls.

Merrick, J.R. & Schmida, G.E. 1984. Australian Freshwater Fishes Biology and Management. Sydney : J.R. Merrick 409 pp. figs 280 col. figs. 

Morgan, D.L., Allen, M.G., Bedford, P. & Horstman, M. 2004. Fish fauna of the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia – including the Bunuba, Gooniyandi, Ngarinyin, Nyikina and Walmajarii Aboriginal names. Records of the Western Australian Museum 22: 147-161 

Myers, G.S. 1936. On the Indo-Australian fishes of the genus Scatophagus, with a description of a new genus Selenotoca. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 49: 83-86 See ref. at BHL

Richardson, J. 1846. Ichthyology. 53-74 pls 31-41, 43-44 & 53 (part) in Richardson, J. & Gray, J.E. (eds). The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Erebus and Terror under the Command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, R.N., F.R.S., during the years 1839–43. London : E.W. Janson Vol. 2 139 pp.

Smith, W.L. & Wheeler, W.C. 2006. Venom evolution widespread in fishes: a phylogenetic rode map for the bioprospecting of piscine venoms. Journal of Heredity 97(3): 206-217.

Tyler, J.C. & Sorbini, C. 1999. Phylogeny of the fossil and Recent genera of fishes of the family Scatophagidae (Squamipinnes). Bollettino del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona 23 (for 31 Dec., 1999): 353-393. 


Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37363001

Danger:Venomous spines

Depth:0-5 m

Fishing:Aquarium fish

Habitat:Estuaries, freshwater streams

Max Size:45 cm TL

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Species Maps

CAAB distribution map