Giant Amberfish

Distribution

This species occurs in the Indo-West Pacific from eastern Africa and Madagascar and the Comoros Islands, east to Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Spratly Islands, as far north as Japan, and southeast to French Polynesia and the Cook Islands.

Status

Uncommon

Habitat

This is a rare species mostly found at depths between 10 to 30 m. It generally occurs on hard ground, large rubble and coral sand patches, on reef slopes, outer lagoon and near passes.

Predators

Humans

Uses

This species is heavily exploited in Indonesia (Tuwo 2004). Recent surveys in French Polynesia only found 2 individuals (Kronen et al. 2008). In Samoa, this species was not found in any surveys (Vunisea et al. 2008). In Tonga, up to 20 individuals per hectare were found in 2001-2008 (Friedman et al. 2009).