Mulloidichthys martinicus
Yellow Goatfish
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Mullidae (Goatfishes)
Mulloidichthys
Mulloidichthys martinicus (Yellow Goatfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Oblong body shape, small spine on opercular margin, relatively pointed snout, moderately convex dorsal profile of head, posterior naris slitlike and close to anterior margin of orbit, posterior margin of maxilla not reaching anterior margin of orbit, villiform jaw teeth in 3 rows anteriorly, 2 rows laterally, and 1 row posteriorly, no teeth on vomer and palatine, 26-33 gill rakers on first arch, head length 27%-28% SL, snout length 11%-13% SL, eye diameter 6%-7% SL, upper jaw length 8%-10% SL, pectoral fin length 21%-22% SL, body depth 26%-28% SL, 15-17 pectoral fin rays, first dorsal fin with 8 spines, second dorsal fin with 1 spine and 8 rays, anal fin with 2 spines and 6 rays, 34-39 lateral line scales
Olive gray to tan, darker dorsally and whitish ventrally, with bright yellow stripe extending from eye to caudal fin base, median fins yellow
Distribution
Western Atlantic from southern Florida and Bermuda to Brazil, including the entire Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Antilles
Habitat Associations
Coastal waters, associated with sandy bottoms near reefs
Sandy bottoms near reefs
Biology
Small ray-finned fishes and benthic invertebrates, including polychaetes, bivalves, crustaceans, and brittle stars, feeding takes place early in the morning
Maximum known size is 400 mm TL
Found over sandy areas of lagoon and seaward reefs (Ref. 9710). Often in schools (Ref. 26938). Forms schools with the smallmouth grunt (Haemulon chrysargyreum), an association regarded as social protective mimicry (Ref. 52492). Juveniles are common in seagrass beds (Ref. 9710). Feeds on benthic invertebrates (Ref. 7313). Marketed fresh (Ref. 3792).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2013-01-29. Resilience: High (K=0.4;).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Randall 1968a
Randall 1996
Randall 2002a
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Matsuura 1983g
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Cervigón 1993a
Cervigón 1993b
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Randall, J.E. (1996) Caribbean reef fishes. Third Edition - revised and enlarged. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 3nd ed. 368 p.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
Oliveira, M.T., M.N. Santos, R. Coelho, V. Monteiro, A. Martins and P.G. Lino (2015) Weight-length and length-length relationships for reef fish species from the Cape Verde archipelago (tropical north-eastern Atlantic). J. Appl. Ichthyol. 31(1):236-241. DOI: 10.1111/jai.12497
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