Fishes - Australian Museum Fish Site

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Latticed Grubfish
Parapercis clathrata Ogilby, 1911

Latticed Grubfish
A Latticed Grubfish at a depth of 10m, inside Mantis Reef, Wreck Bay, far northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, November 1999. View larger image.

The Latticed Grubfish is an elongate, cylindrical fish with a pointed snout. It is pale greenish to brown above and lighter below. There is a row of elongate spots on the lower side of the body. The caudal fin is white with brown spots on the upper and lower margins.

Male Latticed Grubfish have a large ocellus (glossary) on each side of the nape. Females lack an ocellus.

It grows to about 18cm in length.

The Latticed Grubfish usually occurs on coral reefs and lagoons. It is commonly seen on sand, rubble or rocky substrates, at depths from 3m to 50m.

This species occurs in tropical marine waters of the Indo-Pacific, from the Andaman Sea, north to Japan, throughout Micronesia, south to Australia and east to the Samoan Islands.

In Australia the Latticed Grubfish is known from the central and north western coasts of Western Australia, and from the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.

View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.

Further reading

  1. Allen, G.R. & R. Swainston. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 201.
  2. Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 362.
  3. Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. Coral Graphics. Pp. 222.
  4. Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 415.
  5. Randall, J.E. 2001 Family Pinguipedidae (= Parapercidae, Mugiloididae). in Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 6. Bony Fishes part 4 (Labridae to Latimeriidae), estuarine crocodiles, sea turtles, sea snakes and marine mammals. FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-v, 3381-4218.
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