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Diagramma pictum

(Thunberg, 1792)


Scott Gutsy Tuason Can some ID this 1cm Juv. something taken in Anilao, Philiipines , cheers

Benjamin Vallejo Jr Baby Macolor niger?

Christian Gloor How about a baby Plectorhinchus picus? I've seen hundreds of these in Lembeh, but I'm still unsure about the ID. I'd be happy to have a confirmation too :)

Ron Silver I don't think so. The coloration is reversed. Here's some photos of juvenile P. picus: http://www.whatsthatfish.com/fish/dotted-sweetlips-juvenile/1719

Christian Gloor Thanks Ron, but I went to look at the pictures in the link you propose and the last pic to the right shows a very young specimen that appears to have the same coloration as the picture here above. What do you think?

Ron Silver I think its there by mistake - different month and different location. Agree that it looks similar to subject photo though.

Boomer William Wing Plectorhinchus picus http://www.starfish.ch/register/sweetlips-Suesslippen.html

Alan Duncan I'd say it's very likely to be a very small juvenile Diagramma pictum. We find quite a few juveniles here in the Gulf of Thailand (i've got photos of them at 5 or so different development stages). The very small ones (<2cm) tend to be similar to the one in the photograph. As they grow they develop more yellow markings, moving through a striped phase, to an kind of "dot-dash" phase, then finally small spots on a pale grey body as they reach maturity. You can see the start of the yellow colouration appearing on the caudal fin.

Taxonomy
Animalia (Kingdom)
  Chordata (Phylum)
    Vertebrata (Subphylum)
      Gnathostomata (Superclass)
        Pisces (Superclass)
          Actinopterygii (Class)
            Perciformes (Order)
              Haemulidae (Family)
                Diagramma (Genus)
                  Diagramma pictum (Species)
Associated Species