Relevant synonyms Upeneoides moluccensis Misidentification Mulloides auriflamma Mulloides flavolineatus Mulloidichthys auriflamma Meristic formula D1, VIII; D2, 8-9; A, I + 6-8; P, 15-16; V, I + 5; LL, 35-38; GR, 23-31.  photo: David Darom

SHORT DESCRIPTION Body elongated subcylindrical in the first half of body, becoming somewhat compressed towards the tail. Two well-separated dorsal fins. First dorsal spine minute, second spine the largest. Second dorsal fin opposite the anal fin. Caudal fin deeply forked. A pair of barbles on the chin not reaching rear of preoperculum margin. Villiform teeth on both jaws, vomar and palatine. 5 - 7 scales between dorsal fins. color : back pinkish-red; belly white. A distinct single longitudinal yellow stripe running from eye to caudal fin base. Upper caudal fin lob striped. size : common 7 - 20 cm (max. 27 cm). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Upeneus pori: no yellow longitudinal stripe; both caudal fin lobes striped; seven dorsal spines. Mullus spp.: no teeth in upper jaw. Pseudupeneus prayensis : spine on opercular margin; no stripes on caudal fin. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Feeds on benthic and sub-benthic organisms detected by chemoreceptor-rich barbles on the chin. Crustaceans dominating diet, with fish becoming progressively important as size increases. Spawning season from end of July to September. Ripe eggs diameter 0.3-0.4 mm. Eggs and larvae planktonic. Benthic settlement at size of 4-5 cm. Maturity at age of 12 months, when size is ca. 10 cm. habitat : benthic. Sandy or muddy substrate to 100 m (single record at 200 m).

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Palestine, 1947. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Indo-Pacific. Mediterranean : recorded first in Palestine, as Mulloides auriflamma (Haas and Steinitz, 1947); successively recorded in Rhodes Island (Serbetis, 1947), Egypt (Ben-Tuvia, 1966), Cyprus (Demetropoulos and Neocleous, 1969), Libya (Stirns, 1970). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Very abundant in the eastern Levant. speculated reasons for success : unknown. MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS Commercially important in trawl fishery.

KEY REFERENCES Golani D., 1994. Niche separation between colonizing and indigenous goatfishes (Mullidae) of the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Journal of Fish Biology, 45: 503-513. Golani D. and Galil B., 1991. Trophic relationships of colonizing and indigenous goatfishes (Mullidae) in the eastern Mediterranean with special emphasis on decapod crustaceans. Hydrobiologia, 218: 27-33. Haas G. and Steinitz H., 1947. Erythrean fishes on the Mediterranean coast of Palestine. Nature, 160: 28.   Kaya M., Benli H.A., Katagan T. and Ozaydin O., 1999. Age, growth, sex-ratio, spawning season and food of golden bend goatfish, Upeneus moluccensis Bleeker (1855) from the Mediterranean and south Aegean Sea coast of Turkey. Fisheries Research, 41: 317-828. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: April 2002 ©ciesm 2002