Ribboned sweetlips

Ribboned sweetlips
Ribboned sweetlips in the Philippines
Conservation status
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Haemulidae
Genus:	Plectorhinchus
Species:	P. polytaenia
Binomial name
Plectorhinchus polytaenia (Bleeker, 1853)
Synonyms
Diagramma polytaenia Bleeker, 1853

Plectorhinchus polytaenia, the ribboned sweetlips, is a species of grunt native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean, where they can be found on coral reefs at depths from 5 to 40 m (16 to 131 ft). This species can reach 50 cm (20 in) in TL. It is important commercially as a food fish.^[1]

Juveniles have black stripes and live alone on rubble slopes in deep water. As they age, the black is reduced to an outline, and the stripes become more yellow; increasing stripes develop with age.^[2] Their bright colors help them blend into the coral in which they live. These fish feed on crabs, shrimps, sea snails, and worms.

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