Ribboned sweetlips (Plectorhinchus polytaenia) - juvenile

"Plectorhinchus polytaenia", the ribboned sweetlips, is a species of grunt native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean, where they can be found on coral reefs at depths from 5 to 40 m. This species can reach 50 cm in TL. It is important commercially as a food fish.

Juveniles have black stripes and live alone on rubble slopes in deep water. As they age, the black is reduced to an outline, and the stripes become more yellow; increasing stripes develop with age. Their bright.. more