- Classification
- ACTINOPTERYGII
- PERCIFORMES
- MULLIDAE
- Upeneus
- stenopsis
Narrow-tail Goatfish, Upeneus stenopsis Uiblein & McGrouther 2012
Other Names: Narrowtail Goatfish
Holotype of the Narrow-tail Goatfish, Upeneus stenopsis (Holotype, AMS I. 20918-017, 13.1 cm SL), from the Coral Sea off Raine Island, Queensland, February 1979. Source: Douglass F. Hoese / Australian Museum. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Summary:
A small goatfish with a reddish back, silvery sides, a white belly and caudal peduncle underside, no lateral body stripes, 4-5 dark bars on upper caudal-fin lobe, and 3-4 bars on lower caudal-fin lobe (total number of oblique caudal-fin bars 7-9), bars pale brown becoming dark brown towards caudal-fin margin.
Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2025, Upeneus stenopsis in Fishes of Australia, accessed 04 Jun 2026, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/5033
Narrow-tail Goatfish, Upeneus stenopsis Uiblein & McGrouther 2012
More Info
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Distribution |
Timor Sea NW of Darwin, Northern Territory, and the Coral Sea off Raine Island, Queensland. Elsewhere the species occurs in the Philippines. Inhabits soft sediment areas on the continental shelf. |
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Features |
Dorsal fin VIII + 9; Pectoral fin 15-16; Gill rakers 7-8 + 18-20 = 25-28. Body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 22-25% SL; body depth at anus 18-21% SL; caudal-peduncle depth 7.4-7.8% SL; maximum head depth 22-23% SL; head depth through eye 18-19% SL; head length 33-34% SL; orbit length 9.2-9.9% SL; upper jaw length 14-15% SL; barbel length 21-22% SL; caudal-fin length 26-28% SL; anal-fin height 15-16% SL; pelvic-fin length 18-19% SL; pectoral-fin length 23-25% SL; first dorsal-fin height 20-23% SL; second dorsal-fin height 14-16% SL; total number of oblique caudal-fin bars 7-9. |
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Colour |
Total number of oblique caudal-fin bars 7-9, colour of bars changing from pale brown proximally to dark brown towards rear caudal-fin margin; dark bars on upper caudal-fin lobe 4-5 (including one bar close to rear end of lateral line), slightly increasing in width distally; lower caudal-fin lobe with 3-4 bars, of similar width as white interspaces between bars; first dorsal-fin tip black; caudal-fin bars and black dorsal-fin tip retained on preserved fish; barbels white; lateral body stripes absent; head and body silvery laterally and reddish dorsally, belly and ventral side of peduncle white. |
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Etymology |
The specific name stenopsis is from the Greek stenos (= narrow) and opsis (= appearance), in reference to the rather narrow (both in depth and width) caudal peduncle of this species. |
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Species Citation |
Upeneus stenopsis Uiblein & McGrouther 2012, Zootaxa 3550: 63, figs 1-2. Type locality: NE Australia, Queensland, Coral Sea, off Raine Island, 11° 35' S, 144° 02' E, 270–275 m. |
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Author |
Bray, D.J. 2025 |
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Resources |
Narrow-tail Goatfish, Upeneus stenopsis Uiblein & McGrouther 2012
References
Larson, H.K., Williams, R.S. & Hammer, M.P. 2013. An annotated checklist of the fishes of the Northern Territory, Australia. Zootaxa 3696(1): 1-293
Uiblein, F. & Causse, R. 2013. A new deep-water goatfish of the genus Upeneus (Mullidae) from Vanuatu, South Pacific. Zootaxa 3666(3): 337-344 https://dioi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3666.3.4
Uiblein, F. & McGrouther, M. 2012. A new deep-water goatfish of the genus Upeneus (Mullidae) from northern Australia and the Philippines, with a taxonomic account of U. subvittatus and remarks on U. mascareinsis. Zootaxa 3550: 61-70. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3550.1.4
