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Foxfish
Bodianus frenchii (Klunzinger, 1880)
The Foxfish is brown to red or orange with a pale chin and two spots on the back. Juveniles are brown with three yellowish patches and a black area around the pectoral fin base.
This species grows to 45cm in length.
It is usually seen under ledges and in caves.
The Foxfish is known from temperate marine waters of south-western Western Australia to eastern South Australia and from southern Queensland to eastern Tasmania.
This distribution has a distinct gap through Victoria. Some authors believe the name B.frenchii should only be used for fish from the western part of the distribution, with fish from eastern Australia being an undescribed species of Bodianus.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Edgar, G.J. 1997. Australian Marine Life: the plants and animals of temperate waters. Reed Books. Pp. 544.
- Gomon, M.F. 2001. Descriptions of two new species of Bodianus (Perciformes: Labridae) from Australasian waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 28: 407-416.
- Gomon, M.F. & B.C. Russell in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Swainston Publishing. Pp. 180.
- Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Gary Allen. Pp. 437.
