Rypticus bicolor
Mottled Soapfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Serranidae (Sea Basses and Groupers)
Rypticus
Rypticus bicolor (Mottled Soapfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: short and / or deep. Sides of body, excluding cheeks, mottled with cream to pale-brown blotches on dark background, reaching onto bases of median fins; blotches are poorly-defined and often coalescing. Body and head, excluding lips and maxillary, with embedded scales. Dorsal spines 3 (rarely 2). Lower jaw projecting, with prominent fleshy protuberance. Numerous, small pores, in patches, along ventral surface of lower jaw and on the free-edge of preopercle in > 6.5 cm SL specimens (Ref. 40934).
Distribution
Eastern Pacific: Baja California to Peru, including the Galapagos and other offshore islands.
Habitat Associations
Marine. reef-associated. depth range 3-68 m. Found in: coral reefs.
Biology
Lives in rocky reefs, sheltering in caves and crevices but also encountered in the open (Ref. 11482). Lies motionless, often on its side, hidden in dark recesses. Actively hunts at night, preying on small fish (Ref. 5227).
Max length: 28.0 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2008-05-01.
References
Humann, P. and N. DeLoach (1993) Reef fish identification. Galápagos. New World Publications, Inc., Florida. 267 p.
Allen, G.R. and D.R. Robertson (1994) Fishes of the tropical eastern Pacific. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. 332 p.
McCarthy, L.V. (1979) Eastern Pacific Rypticus (Pisces: Grammistidae). Copeia 1979(3):393-400.
Comments On Rypticus bicolor