Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Marine; reef-associated; depth range 2 - 25 m (Ref. 9710). Subtropical; 33°N - 0°N, 98°W - 29°W
Western Atlantic: southern Florida, USA and Bermuda to northern South America. East to St. Paul's Rocks (Ref. 13121).
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26340); common length : 60.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 7251)
Commonly found in weedy areas and especially around reefs, where they usually swim snout-down among sea whips (gorgonians). A solitary ambusher of small fishes and crustaceans that lurk among branching coral or gorgonians. Often swims behind large herbivorous fishes to sneak up on prey. Mouth opens to diameter of body to suck in prey (Ref. 9710). Marketed locally. Has been traded as an aquarium fish at Ceará, Brazil (Ref. 49392).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Oviparous, gonochorous, with pelagic eggs (Ref. 101194).
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p. (Ref. 7251)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 123251)
CITES (Ref. 123416)
Threat to humans
Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingNutrientsMass conversion
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969
): 25.5 - 28.2, mean 27.4 °C (based on 657 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805
= 0.7500 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00200 (0.00084 - 0.00477), b=3.20 (2.99 - 3.41), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245
Trophic level (Ref. 69278
): 4.3 ±0.6 se; based on diet studies.
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153
): Moderate to high vulnerability (50 of 100) .
Nutrients (Ref. 124155
): Calcium = 33.1 [16.0, 66.7] mg/100g ; Iron = 0.992 [0.531, 1.776] mg/100g ; Protein = 19.9 [18.7, 21.1] % ; Omega3 = 0.173 [0.094, 0.325] g/100g ; Selenium = 31.2 [14.1, 66.1] μg/100g ; VitaminA = 22.7 [6.3, 82.1] μg/100g ; Zinc = 0.609 [0.385, 0.978] mg/100g (wet weight);