''Haemulon squamipinna'' is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a

grunt Grunt, grunts or grunting may refer to: Sound and music * Grunting (tennis), in tennis refers to the loud noise, sometimes described as "shrieking" or "screaming", made by some players during their strokes * Death grunt, the death metal singin ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Haemulidae Haemulidae is a family of fishes in the order Perciformes known commonly as grunts. It is made up of the two subfamilies Haemulinae (grunters) and Plectorhynchinae (sweetlips), which in turn contain about 133 species in 19 genera. These fish ar ...

. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean where it is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Brazil, here it is locally known as ''Xira Amarela'', and occurs along the coast from the states of

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

. It grows to about in length, feeds at night on benthic invertebrates, and is important for subsistence fisheries along the northeastern Brazilian coast. It forms large schools that can number in the thousands, sometimes with

Haemulon aurolineatum ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

. Juveniles are often found in shallow reefs at depths of while adults are found in deeper areas at . The name "squamipinna" is derived from the Latin, meaning "scaled fins", and is an allusion to the observation that the pectoral fins in this species are covered with scales, making it easy to distinguish it from other species in the genus.

References

Fish described in 1999 Taxa named by Luiz A. Rocha sqamipinna {{Haemulidae-stub