The greater lizardfish ''(Saurida tumbil)'' is a species of

lizardfish The Synodontidae or lizardfishes(or typical lizardfish to distinguish them from the Bathysauridae and Pseudotrichonotidae) are benthic (bottom-dwelling) marine and estuarine bony fishes that belong to the aulopiform fish order, a diverse group ...

that lives in the Indo-Pacific. They are a minor fishery.

Distribution

They live in the Indo-West Pacific. More specifically, their geographic range spans from Red Sea and east coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

(except Kenya), including

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

, and further east to

southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and Australia but they do not appear to occur in the central or

eastern Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Short description

Its average length at maturation is (range 19–35 cm) and maximum length is

fork length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...

. They have neither dorsal spines nor anal spines but display 11–13 dorsal soft rays (total) and 10–11 anal soft rays. Body is cigar-shaped, rounded or slightly compressed. The head is pointed and depressed. The snout is broader than long. Color is generally brown above and silver below. The back has faint cross bands. The tips of the dorsal and pectorals and the lower caudal lobe are blackish.

Biology

This species is found on muddy bottoms and trawling grounds. It feeds on fishes, crustaceans, and cephalopods.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2632361 greater lizardfish Fish of the Red Sea Fish of the Persian Gulf greater lizardfish Taxa named by Marcus Elieser Bloch