Sea goldie


The sea goldie, also known as the orange basslet, lyretail coralfish, lyretail anthias, lyretail fairy basslet, orange fairy basslet, orange seaperch, scalefin basslet, scalefin fairy basslet and scalefin anthias, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, an anthias from the subfamily Anthiinae part of the family Serranidae, the groupers and sea basses. It has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution. It is found in the aquarium trade.

Range

The sea goldie is found in the western Indian Ocean including the Red Sea, and in the Pacific Ocean as far east as Japan and southeast Australia. It is absent from the Persian Gulf and Oman.

Description

This species shows marked sexual dimorphism:
The midas blenny, Ecsenius midas, goes through a phase of yellow colouration and is a social mimic of the sea goldie.
The sea goldie feeds primarily on zooplankton. Like other anthias, the sea goldie is a protogynous hermaphrodite; a male retains a harem of five to 10 females, but when the male dies, one of the females will undergo sex reversal and take the place of the missing male. Spawning occurs at sunset, between December and February.

Habitat

The fish lives around coral outcrops in clear lagoons, patch reefs, and steep slopes to a depth of 35 m, often found in the company of Chromis dimidiata. They are often found in very large schools above the reef.

Video Game appearances

The sea goldie appears in both games of the Endless Ocean franchise.

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