The toadstool groper (''Trachypoma macracanthus''), also known as the Pacific rockcod, Pacific perch, Strawberry cod and whitespotted sea bass is a sea bass of the subfamily

Anthiinae Anthias are members of the family Serranidae and make up the subfamily Anthiinae. Anthias make up a sizeable portion of the population of pink, orange, and yellow reef fishes seen swarming in most coral reef photography and film. The name Anthi ...

of the family

Serranidae The Serranidae are a large family of fishes belonging to the order Perciformes. The family contains about 450 species in 65 genera, including the sea basses and the groupers (subfamily Epinephelinae). Although many species are small, in some case ...

, is found in the southern

Pacific Ocean 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 ...

. Its length is between 20 and 40 cm.

Description

The toadstool groper is bright orange or red in colour with an irregular pattern of small white spots covering its body and the fins. It has large eyes which are set high on head. The lower border of the preopercular bone has three upward curving spines. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

12 spines while the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

contains 6 soft rays. This species grows to around in length. Although other authorities give it a maximum length of .

Distribution

The toadstool groper has been recorded from New Zealand and the

Kermadec Islands The Kermadec Islands ( mi, Rangitāhua) are a subtropical island arc in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga. The islands are part of New Zealand. They are in total are ...

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

, and the

Desventuradas Islands The Desventuradas Islands ( es, Islas Desventuradas, , "Unfortunate Islands" or ''Islas de los Desventurados'', "Islands of the Unfortunate Ones") is a group of four small oceanic islands located off the coast of Chile, northwest of Santiago in ...

of Chile. Around Australia it is found around southwestern and southeastern Australia,

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

and the

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

and

Middleton Reef Middleton Reef is a coral reef in the Coral Sea. It is separated by a deep oceanic pass some 47 km wide from nearby Elizabeth Reef, forming part of the Lord Howe Rise underwater plateau. It is around 230 km from Lord Howe Island and 5 ...

Habitat and biology

The toadstool groper is found in rocky reefs, as well as in the coral sand areas of lagoons at depths of . It frequently hides in caves and underneath overhangs and it feeds on a variety of benthic invertebrates and smaller fishes. They are nocturnal hunters and one of their favourite prey items is "crayfish", leaving their shelters at night to hunt these crustaceans.

Species description

The toadstool groper was first formally described by the German born British ichthyologist Albert Günther in 1859 with the type locality given as Norfolk Island.

References

* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, ''Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand'', (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) {{Taxonbar, from=Q2514722 Anthiinae Fish described in 1859 Taxa named by Albert Günther