Tiger Sole

Soleichthys heterorhinos is a sole from the Eastern Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to a size of 18 cm in length.

Description

It is a white to reddish-brown sole with numerous narrow dark brown bars or lines across the upper side, dorsal and anal fins with a white margin and a bluish-black submarginal band, and a pale caudal fin with a broad black margin.

Appearance: somewhat elongate, head short; eyes small, very close together, interorbital space minimal; tubular anterior nostril longer than eye diameter; ventral edge of head with a fringe of cirri. It exhibits biofluorescence, that is, when illuminated by blue or ultraviolet light, it re-emits it as red, and appears differently than under white light illumination. Biofluorescence potentially assists intraspecific communication and camouflage

Distribution

Eastern Indian Ocean and Western Pacific: India to Samoa, north to southern Japan, south to New South Wales, Australia.

Habitat

Found singly in shallow protected sandy areas of lagoons and seaward reefs, found partially buried in or on the sand. This highly compressed fish buries itself beneath the sand, exposing only its eye and tubular nostril. It is more active at night. Moves extremely fast when disturbed and is difficult to detect when it resettles. It feeds on small fish, invertebrates and worms.