Whitemargin Stargazer

Uranoscopus sulphureus is a fish of family Uranoscopidae.

Description

It is recognized by the black first dorsal fin. Body is greyish white with brown net pattern. It has distinctive black spots on the body and the fins. Respiratory valve inside lower jaw with a thread-like brownish appendage and several long filaments around is base. Upper edge of opercle ascending backward. Posterior nostril a slit-like pore or with a very low tubular valve. First dorsal fin is black with V spines (last one rudimentary). Only 1 basipterygial process. No cirrus on eye. Dorsal spines (total): 4; Dorsal soft rays (total): 12-13; Anal spines: 13.

Distribution

It is widespread in the Indopacific: Red Sea, Indonesia, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga.

Habitat

It inhabits reef flats and coastal bottoms but is rarely seen because it lies buried in sand or mud most of the time, with only the eyes showing. When buried, the cirri on the edge of the mouth serve to keep out the sand during respiration. The oral lure is used to attract the prey within striking range of the mouth. The shoulder has a venomous cleithral spine; wounds can be serious.