Order Beloniformes(needle fishes) Family Hemiramphidae(halfbeaks). Blackbarred halfbeak. Hemiramphus far(Forsskål, 1775). max. 45.0 cm TL, common length : 30.0 cm TL max. reported age: 4 years Korean name/geom-mu-neui-hak-ggong-chi(검무늬학꽁치) Japanese name/ホシザヨリ(Hoshi-zayori) Chinese name/斑鱵(반침/spotted pike) 水针(수침/water needle) Dorsal spines 0, Dorsal soft 12-15. Anal spines 0, Anal soft rays 10-12; P1/11-13. P2/6. Predorsal scales/36-41. Vert/50~55. GR/25-36(first arch)+21-27(second arch).
Distribution; Indo-West Pacific/South Africa, Madagascar, Comoros Island, Mauritius, Seychelles Islands, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Southern India, Sri Lanka, Northern Bay of Bengal, Gulf of Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Micronesia, China's Hainan Island, Taiwan, Ryukyu Islands, South of central Japan, Korea's Jeju Island, northern and New South Wales Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Migrated to the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal with recent records off Algeria in the western Basin. General; Blackbarred halfbeak has elongated, laterally rather compressed body, oval in cross-section and with short caudal peduncle. The lower jaw is greatly prolonged beak-like, and the upper jaw is short and triangular. Both jaws with small tricuspid teeth in five to six rows irregularly. Lower jaw with thin membrane on both sides. Eye rather large, interorbital space wide and flat with two shallow grooves. There is no ridge in the anterior part of the eye(preorbital ridge). Gill membranes free from isthmus. No spine in fins. Dorsal fin and anal fin are located towards the tail. Dorsal and anal fins nearly opposite, base of dorsal fin nearly twice longer than that of anal fin. Caudal fin deeply forked, The caudal fin is asymmetrical with the lower lobe being longer than the upper lobe. Insertion of pelvic fin two thirds between tip of upper jaw and base of caudal fin. Pectoral fin rather small and triangular which do not extend past the nasal fossa when they are folded forwards. Body fully scaled with deciduous cycloids. Head with cycloid scales near to anterior margin of nostril dorsally.
In a close-up, well-photographed underwater photo in natural state, the entire ventral side from the rear end of the long beak to the base of the caudal fin is pale yellow. The dorsal head is also pale yellow. The dorsal fin and upper lobe of caudal fin is bright and distinct yellow overall, and the lower lobe of the caudal fin is deep blue. A fairly large black blotch at anterior base of anal fin, and rest area is transparent. One blue stripe that starts from front of eye and passes through the eyes to caudal fin base along the middle of body. 3 to 9 black dots are arranged on this blue stripe, most have 4-6 dots. The pectoral and ventral fins are colorless and transparent. Dorsal sides of upper and lower jaws blackish.
Dead fresh individuals are light blue dorsally, silvery ventrally. The yellow color of the dorsal and caudal fin partially remains only in anterior part, and lower lobe of caudal fin is dark. In individuals dead for some time, only traces of yellow remain or disappear, blue tint also disappears, and all these parts become black.
Occur in coastal waters of high islands and continental shorelines, depth range 0-6m, generally in areas rich in vegetation and sand flats. Form schools. Adults feed mainly on seagrasses, to a lesser extent on green algae and diatoms. It breeds in estuaries, and in the more temperate parts of its distribution in the spring and summer. The eggs are attached to vegetation by sticky threads and once the larvae hatch they are planktonic. Hemiramphus far is commercially exploited along the Arabian Sea coast of Pakistan where the species is considered of great economic importance. It is caught with drag nets and dip nets but is reported to escape from nets by leaping over them. The flesh is considered to be flavoursome and it is marketed both in fresh form and dried.
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