NEMIPTERIDAE


Scolopsis affinis, 14.7 cm SL
(photo by Ukkrit Satapoomin)


Scolopsis affinis
Peters, 1877
Petersf Monocle Bream

D X, 9; A III, 7; P1 16-18; P2 I, 5; LLp 43-46; GR 10-11.

Body relatively deep, compressed; body depth 2.9-3.3 in SL. Posterior margin of suborbital with a large backwardly pointing spine and a series of smaller spines or serrations; small forward pointing spine below eye absent. Preopercular margin serrated. Caudal fin lobes falcate in adults. Head scales reaching forward to or nearly to level of posterior nostril in dorsal view; lower limb of preopercle with 1 or 2 scale rows; bony opercular ridge covered with scales; temporal region covered with scales; 4 or 5 scale rows between dorsal fin origin and lateral line. Color: body silvery white to grayish, with a broad yellow midlateral stripe from behind eye to caudal-fin base in adults, blackish stripe below the yellow stripe in juveniles. Caudal fin yellow with bluish margin. Size: maximum length 19.5 cm SL. Distribution: distributed in the Andaman Sea and the western Pacific, including southern Japan, Southeast Asian countries, northern Australia and the Solomon Islands. Remarks: occurs in shallow waters on sandy or muddy bottoms close to reefs, to depths of 60 m. (Hiroyuki Motomura)