Western Australian Banjofish, Banjos banjos brevispinis (Richardson 1846)

Other Names: Banjos, Banjosid

Summary:

A silvery white to greyish-brown banjofish becoming paler below, with the front part of the head blackish, whitish lips, second dorsal fin with a white margin and a large round black anterior blotch, and a broad brown submarginal band on the caudal fin.
Small individuals have several indistinct dark stripes along the sides and a small black blotch on the caudal-fin base.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2019, Banjos banjos brevispinis in Fishes of Australia, accessed 16 Apr 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/4453

Western Australian Banjofish, Banjos banjos brevispinis (Richardson 1846)

More Info

Distribution	Off the Houtman Abrolhos islands (~28ºS) to south of Rowley Shoals (~18.5ºS). Elsewhere the species occurs off Lombok, Indonesia.
Features	Diagnosis. A subspecies of Banjos banjos distinguished from other subspecies by the following combination of characters: least interorbital width 5.8–8.1 (mean 6.8) % of SL; first dorsal-fin spine length 4.5–8.0 (6.1) % of SL; second dorsal-fin spine length 11.2–18.3 (14.0) % of SL; eighth dorsal-fin spine length 9.5–18.7 (12.5) % of SL.
Colour	Head and body silvery white to grey or brown, darker dorsally; small specimen with several indistinct dark stripes on side of body and small black blotch on caudal-fin base; frontal portion of head blackish; lips whitish; eye dull yellow. Dorsal-fin spines and associated membrane pale brown (membrane with broad central translucent area in small specimens); soft dorsal-fin rays with brownish tinge, associated membrane translucent with a white dorsal margin and large black rounded blotch anterodorsally, subequal to orbit in size. Anal fin membrane translucent, anterior portion brown, with narrow white distal margin. Pectoral fin tinged with pale brown; lunate or semicircle dark blotch on base. Pelvic-fin soft rays and membrane black. Caudal fin semi-translucent with broad brown to black band posteriorly in large specimens (5 dark blotches in small specimens), with narrow white distal margin.
Etymology	The subspecific name brevispinis is derived from the Latin word meaning 'short-spine', alluding to the subspecies possessing relatively short dorsal-fin spines, compared with B. b. banjos.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2019
Resources	Catalog of Fishes

Western Australian Banjofish, Banjos banjos brevispinis (Richardson 1846)

References

Matsunuma, M. & Motomura, H. 2017. Review of the genus Banjos (Perciformes: Banjosidae) with descriptions of two new species and a new subspecies. Ichthyological Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-016-0569-9 Open access