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Siganus virgatus (Valenciennes, 1835)

Barhead spinefoot
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Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
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Siganus virgatus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Siganus virgatus (Barhead spinefoot)
Siganus virgatus
Picture by Randall, J.E.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Acanthuriformes (Surgeonfishes) > Siganidae (Rabbitfishes)
Etymology: Siganus: Latin, siganus = a fish, rabbit fish; by the similarity of the nose (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Valenciennes.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; reef-associated; depth range 1 - ? m (Ref. 48637), usually 1 - 20 m (Ref. 27115). Tropical; 23°C - 28°C (Ref. 27115); 35°N - 25°S, 77°E - 154°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Indo-West Pacific: southern India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Islands, Thailand, southern and eastern coasts of China, Taiwan, Ryukyu, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Northern Territory in Australia.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 30.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9710); common length : 20.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9813)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 13; Dorsal soft rays (total): 10; Anal spines: 7; Anal soft rays: 9; Vertebrae: 13. A brown band running diagonally from nape to chin; another from 4th-5th dorsal spine base to pectoral fin base; ocular and shoulder bands spotted with blue; a zone of silvery yellow posterior and adjacent to the shoulder band. Preopercular angle 100°-111°; cheek scalation variable from few to almost fully scaled; midline of thorax fully scaled, sometimes with a row missing from pelvic ridges. A prominent rim or short tube encircle the anterior nostril, with a little peak on it posteriorly. Spines stout, fairly pungent and venomous.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Inhabits shallow coastal waters, around hard coral reefs and areas of sand with patches of rock and soft coral. Tolerant of murky waters. Larger juveniles and adults occur in pairs in coastal reef flats, slopes and estuaries . Small juveniles are found in mangroves and enter freshwater, moving to reefs usually in small groups among corals (Ref. 48637). Feed on benthic seaweeds (Ref. 9813).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Woodland, David J. | Collaborators

Woodland, D.J., 1990. Revision of the fish family Siganidae with descriptions of two new species and comments on distribution and biology. Indo-Pac. Fish. (19):136 p. (Ref. 1419)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 18 July 2017

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Venomous (Ref. 4537)





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
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Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
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BRUVS - Videos
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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 25.4 - 29.1, mean 28.3 °C (based on 1192 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01905 (0.01036 - 0.03504), b=3.13 (2.97 - 3.29), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  2.7   ±0.31 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (20 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 38.5 [18.8, 90.0] mg/100g; Iron = 0.671 [0.313, 1.534] mg/100g; Protein = 19 [18, 20] %; Omega3 = 0.121 [0.063, 0.240] g/100g; Selenium = 20.3 [7.8, 50.6] μg/100g; VitaminA = 33 [9, 121] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.42 [0.56, 3.07] mg/100g (wet weight);