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Related FAQs: Grunts

Related Articles:  Indo. Grunts and Sweetlips, Family Haemulidae,

/The Conscientious Marine Aquarist

The Grunts Called Sweetlips, Family Haemulidae, Subfamily Plectorhynchinae

Link to: Grunts, Family Haemulidae

by Bob Fenner Plectorhinchus polytaenia

Subfamily Plectorhynchinae: The Heartbreaking Grunts that are Sweetlips:

Many species of these Grunts are beautiful as young, a few as adults... but most all die due to starvation principally (stress overall) as youngsters.

Genus Diagramma: Differ from Plectorhinchus in having much longer caudal peduncles (part of body before tail) and fewer dorsal fin spines. 

Diagramma labiosum Macleay 1883, the Slate Sweetlips. Indo-Pacific, including the Red Sea. To ten inches in length. Very similar to Painted Sweetlips, Diagramma pictus, as juveniles and adults. This school and individual photographed off Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Diagramma pictum (Thunberg 1792), the Painted Sweetlips. Indo-West Pacific; Red Sea, eastern Africa to Japan and New Caledonia. to about a meter total length. At right: Half and one inch juveniles in N. Sulawesi. Below: First Row: three to four inch individuals in N. Sulawesi. Second row: A sub-adult one in Redang, Malaysia and adults off of Mabul, Malaysia. 

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Genus Plectorhinchus

Plectorhinchus albovittatus (Ruppell 1838), the Two-Stripe or Giant Sweetlips. Indo-west Pacific, including the Red Sea. To a meter in length. The largest Sweetlips species. Aquarium and N. Sulawesi juveniles.  http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID= 6362&genusname=Plectorhinchus&speciesname=albovittatus

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Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides Lacepede 1801, the Clown or Harlequin Sweetlips. Western Pacific. To twenty nine inches. The most commonly used species of the family... but rarely lives more than a few days in captivity. At right, a tiny, half-inch baby in its typical crazy/rapid "dance" (to avoid predation?) in S. Sulawesi. Below: Images of a juvenile (about three inches) in Fiji, a four inch or so individual in Mabul, Malaysia and a foot long adult in Fiji.

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Plectorhinchus chrysotaenia (Bleeker 1855), the Yellow-Striped Sweetlips. Western Pacific. To sixteen inches in length. This semi-adult of about eight inches in Bunaken/Sulawesi/Indonesia. 

Plectorhinchus diagrammus (Linnaeus 1758), the Striped Sweetlips. Western Pacific, to sixteen inches in length. Two, four and five inch individuals in captivity.
Plectorhinchus gaterinus (Forsskal 1775), the Black-Spotted Rubberlips or Gaterin. Western Indian Ocean and Red Sea. About the hardiest member of the subfamily, but does get to twenty inches in length.

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Plectorhinchus gibbosus (Lacepede 1802), the Brown Sweetlips. Indo-West Pacific; Red Sea to South Africa to Samoa and Australia. To some thirty inches in length. This one off of Pulau Redang, Malaysia. 

Plectorhinchus lessoni Cuvier 1830. West Pacific, to sixteen inches long. A juv. in the wild. Below: An adult in S. Sulawesi, and two adults in N. Sulawesi. 
Plectorhinchus lineatus (Linnaeus 1758), the Yellow-Banded Sweetlips. Indo-West Pacific. To twenty nine inches in length in the wild. A juvenile in captivity and an adult in N. Sulawesi.

 

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Plectorhinchus obscurus (Synonym for P. albovittatus)  
Plectorhinchus orientalis (Bloch 1793), the Oriental Sweetlips. A commonly encountered (much of tropical Indo-Pacific) species in the wild and in the aquarium trade. Rarely lives for any period of time. To thirty four inches in length (not a mis-print). Below, a juvenile in the Maldives, a sub-adult in N. Sulawesi and an adult coloration individual in Fiji.  
Plectorhinchus picus (Cuvier 1830), the Dotted or Painted Sweetlips. Indo-Pacific. Below, a three inch one in captivity, a juvenile in the Long Beach, California Public Aquarium of the Pacific and one in the Seychelles on a poor visibility day), to thirty three inches in length. "Marketed fresh".

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Plectorhinchus polytaenia (Bleeker 1852), the Ribboned Sweetlips. Indo-West Pacific: west coast of India; Philippines and Indonesia to Papua New Guinea, south to northern Australia. To 50 cm. Raja Ampat and Bunaken, Indo. pix.
http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=8316&genusname=Plectorhinchus&
speciesname=polytaenia


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Plectorhinchus vittatus (Linnaeus 1758), the Indian Ocean Oriental Sweetlips. Indo-West Pacific (this six inch one in Bunaken/Sulawesi/Indonesia). To only two feet in length.

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