Crescent Grunter, Terapon jarbua (Forsskål 1775)


Other Names: Crescent Banded Grunter, Crescent Perch, Jarbua Terapon, Spiky Trumpeter, Thornfish, Tiger Perch

A Crescent Grunter, Terapon jarbua, at Kadavu, Fiji, April 2016. Source: Mark Rosenstein / iNaturalist.org. License: CC BY Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike

Summary:
A pale brown silvery grunter becoming whitish below, with a dark nape, 3-4 curved or crescent-shaped dark brown bands from the nape to the rear of the body, the lowermost continuing across the middle of the tail.

Video of Crescent Grunter at Barefoot Island, Fiji.

Cite this page as:
Dianne J. Bray, Terapon jarbua in Fishes of Australia, accessed 19 Mar 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/704

Crescent Grunter, Terapon jarbua (Forsskål 1775)

More Info


Distribution

Carnarvon, Western Australia, around the tropical north to Sydney, New South Wales, with juveniles south of Bermagui, New South Wales; also Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. Elsewhere, the species is widespread in the Indo-west Pacific. Inhabits freshwater, brackish and marine environments

Features

Dorsal fin XI-XII, 9-11; Anal fin III, 7-10. Lower opercular spine extending well beyond the opercular flap. Post temporal bone exposed posteriorly and serrate.

Feeding

Carnivore - feeds on small fishes, insects, benthic invertebrates and the scales of large fishes.

Species Citation

Sciaena jarbua Forsskål 1775. Descriptiones animalium Avium, Amphibiorum, Piscium, Insectorum, Vermium; quae in itinere orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. Post mortem auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr. Adjuncta est materia medica kahirina atque tabula maris rubri geographica. Hauniae : Mölleri 1-19, i-xxxiv, 164 pp., 43, pls. [12]. Type data: Lectotype ZMUC P.43571, Jidda, Saudi Arabia (as Djedda), Red Sea.

Author

Dianne J. Bray

Resources

Australian Faunal Directory

Crescent Grunter, Terapon jarbua (Forsskål 1775)

References


Allen, G.R. 1982. Inland Fishes of Western Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 86 pp. 6 figs 20 pls.

Allen, G.R. 1991. Field Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of New Guinea. Madang : Christensen Research Institute 268 pp. 

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

Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.

Allen, G.R., Hoese, D.F., Paxton, J.R., Randall, J.E., Russell, B.C., Starck, W.A., Talbot, F.H. & Whitley, G.P. 1976. Annotated checklist of the fishes of Lord Howe Island. Records of the Australian Museum 30(15): 365-454 figs 1-2 

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.

Blaber, S.J.M. 1980. Fish of the Trinity Inlet System of North Queensland with notes on the ecology of fish faunas of tropical Indo-Pacific estuaries. Aust. J. Mar. Freshwat. Res. 31:137-46.

Blaber, S.J.M., Young, J.W. & Dunning, M.C. 1985. Community structure and zoogeographic affinities of the coastal fishes of the Dampier region of north-western Australia. Aust. J. Mar. Freshwat. Res. 36: 247-266.

Dahanukar, N. 2011. Terapon jarbua. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011: e.T166892A6291073. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T166892A6291073.en. Downloaded on 16 August 2016.

Davis, A.M., Pusey, B.J. & Pearson, R.G. 2012. Trophic ecology of terapontid fishes (Pisces:Terapontidae): The role of morphology and ontogeny. Marine and Freshwater Research 63(2):128-141. DOI: 10.1071/MF11105


Forsskål, P. 1775. Descriptiones animalium Avium, Amphibiorum, Piscium, Insectorum, Vermium; quae in itinere orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. Post mortem auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr. Adjuncta est materia medica kahirina atque tabula maris rubri geographica. Hauniae : Mölleri 1-19, i-xxxiv, 164 pp., 43, pls. 

Francis, M. 1993. Checklist of the coastal fishes of Lord Howe, Norfolk, and Kermadec Islands, southwest Pacific Ocean. Pacific Science 47(2): 136-170 figs 1-2 

Gloerfelt-Tarp, T. & Kailola, P.J. 1984. Trawled Fishes of Southern Indonesia and Northwest Australia. Jakarta : Dir. Gen. Fish. (Indonesia), German Tech. Coop., Aust. Dev. Ass. Bur. 406 pp.

Golani, D. & Appelbaum-Golani, B.A. 2010. First record of the Indo-Pacific fish the Jarbua terapon (Terapon jarbua) (Osteichthyes: Terapontidae) in the Mediterranean with remarks on the wide geographical distribution of this species. Scientia Marina 74(4): 717-720. 

Grant, E.M. 2002. Guide to Fishes. Redcliffe : EM Grant Pty Ltd 880 pp. 

Hutchins, B. 2004. Fishes of the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 66: 343–398. 

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)

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

Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. A comprehensive reference for divers and fishermen. Sydney, NSW, Australia : New Holland Publishers xvii, 434 pp. 

Kuiter, R.H. & Tonozuka, T. 2001. Indonesian Reef Fishes. Part 1. Eels- Snappers, Muraenidae - Lutjanidae. Australia : Zoonetics pp. 1-302.

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.

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.

Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1990. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 507 pp. figs. 

Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 557 pp. figs. 

Sainsbury, K.J., Kailola, P.J. & Leyland, G.G. 1984. Continental Shelf Fishes of Northern and North-Western Australia. Canberra : Fisheries Information Service 375 pp. figs & pls.

Vari, R.P. 1978. The terapon perches (Percoidei, Terapontidae) a cladistic analysis and taxonomic revision. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 159(5): 175-340 figs 1-94

Vari, R.P. 2001. Family Terapontidae. pp. 3305-3316 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.

Whitfield, A.K. 1979. Field observations on the lepidophagous teleost Terapon jarbua (Forskal). Environmental Biology of Fishes 4(2): 171-172. 

Whitfield, A.K. & Blaber, S.J.M. 1978. Food and feeding ecology of piscivorous fishes at Lake St Lucia, Zululand. Journal of Fish Biology 13(6): 675–691.

Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37321002

Conservation:IUCN Least Concern

Fishing:Aquarium fish

Habitat:Marine, estuarine, freshwater

Max Size:36 cm TL

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CAAB distribution map