Order Perciformes Family Opistognathidae( Jawfishes) Harlequin jawfish Stalix histrio(Jordan & Snyder, 1902). 3.0 cm SL Japanese name/Kaeru-amadai Chinese name/叉棘鰧(차극등)
Distribution; West Pacific/southern(probably) Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Australia. General; The Harlequin jawfish(Stalix histrio) is famous for mimicking the mimic octopus(Thaumoctopus mimicus). The mimic octopus imitates the appearance of various aquatic animals, and the Harlequin jawfish mimics its pattern by changing its pattern according to the the octopus, and moves together by closely attaching to the body of the mimicking octopus. There is little publicly available information about the morphology or ecology of this fish. It is a very rare species. Found in shallow protected coastal bays in shallow waters of 1-25 m depth. Mouthbrooders. The pups are kept in their mouths to nurture. It is adopted as a species distributing in Korea on this website according to the announcement of the National Institute of Fisheries Science(Korea) that 23 unrecorded juvenile fish caught in Korea in a survey from 2017 to 2018, and one of them is harlequin jawfish.
|