The Eastern striped grunter (''Helotes sexlineatus'') is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

, a grunter from the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Terapontidae Grunters or tigerperches are ray-finned fishes in the family Terapontidae (also spelled Teraponidae, Theraponidae or Therapontidae). This family is part of the superfamily Percoidea of the order Perciformes. Characteristics The Terapontidae ...

. It is found in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region where it is found in coastal waters and is an omnivore.

Description

The Eastern striped grunter is a small species of grunter with an oblong body which has slight lateral compression. It has jaws of equal length, a small oblique mouth the end of which extends to a level hallway between the nostril and the front edge of the eye. It has tricuspid teeth with the cusps all being the same size and which are arranged in bands on each jaw with the outermost row of teeth having the largest teeth. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

has 11or 12 spines and 9 to 11 soft rays, the spiny part of the fin is arched with the fifth or sixth spines being longer than the others and the second last spine is shorter than last spine. The

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

has 3 spines and 9 to 11 soft rays. The

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

contains 76 to 87 pored scales. The upper part of the body is greyish or bluish in colour while the lower part of the body is silvery or whitish. There are 5 to 8 narrow, dark brown or black horizontal stripes along the body. The midlateral stripe reaches the base of the

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

. The spiny portion of the dorsal fin has a black margin on the membranes between the spines membranes. There is a dark blotch on the body behind the nape and shows variation in the intensity of its pigment. The caudal fin has a dark border and several bands made up of faint spots at its base, but lacks obvious transverse black striping. the maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

is .

Distribution

The Eastern striped grunter is found from Singapore east to Australia and north to China and Okinawa. It has been reported from India but this need to be confirmed.

Habitat and biology

The eastern striped grunter is found at depths of and are found in schools in sheltered seagrass beds, sandy areas and in coastal reefs. It is most numerous in weedy areas close to the mouth of estuaries. The juveniles inhabit seagrass beds, moving into them after ending their larval stage. It is an omnivorous species but the major part of its diet comprises small fishes and invertebrates. The eggs are guarded and fanned by the male.

Taxonomy

The Eastern striped grunter was first formally described as ''Terapon sexlineatus'' in 1825 by the French

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Jean René Constant Quoy Jean René Constant Quoy (10 November 1790 in Maillé, Vendée, Maillé – 4 July 1869 in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, Rochefort) was a French naval surgeon, zoologist and anatomist. In 1806, he began his medical studies at the school of naval ...

and

Joseph Paul Gaimard Joseph Paul Gaimard (31 January 1793 – 10 December 1858) was a French naval surgeon and naturalist. Biography Gaimard was born at Saint-Zacharie on January 31, 1793. He studied medicine at the naval medical school in Toulon, subsequen ...

with the type locality given as

Shark Bay Shark Bay () is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The area is located approximately north of Perth, on the westernmost point of the Australian continent. UNESCO's listing of Shark Bay as a World Heritage S ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

created the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus ''Helotes'' for this species in 1829 and most authorities retain this species as the only species in this genus.

Fisheries

The Eastern striped grunter is of minor commercial importance to Fisheries, and is often taken as

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

. It is caught using handlines , seine nets and other inshore fishing gear. The catch is marketed fresh. It is also targeted by recreation fishermen in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q14026910, from2=Q1838673 Terapontidae Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN