Family Holocentridae, Squirrelfishes & Soldierfishes

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Family Holocentridae

Squirrelfishes & Soldierfishes

Nocturnal fishes that hide in dark areas during the day, emerging at night to feed upon large zooplankton and small fish. They have large serrated scales (unlike Bigeyes) and sharp venomous fin and head spines capable of delivering painful wounds if handled, and are capable of making a grunting sound. Larger species are popular food fishes as their delicate white flesh has a high fat content. Soldierfishes, which are mostly red with big eyes and oval in shape, are known in Hawai‘i as Menpachi or Mempachi. Squirrelfishes are thinner with a pointed snout and horizontal stripes. Many species are difficult to distinguish at first glance.

	Hawaii's common Myripristis, L to R: M. berndti, M. kuntee, M. amaena
Kewalo Pipe, Oahu, 60 feet

HAWAII

Myripristis amaena BRICK SOLDIERFISH	Myripristis berndti BIGSCALE SOLDIERFISH
Myripristis murdjan BLOTCHEYE SOLDIERFISH	Myripristis chryseres YELLOWFIN SOLDIERFISH
Myripristis kuntee PEARLY SOLDIERFISH	Myripristis vittata WHITETIP SOLDIERFISH
Plectrypops lima ROUGH-SCALE SOLDIERFISH	Pristilepis oligolepis WHITE-SCALE SQUIRRELFISH
Sargocentron spiniferum LONGJAW SQUIRRELFISH	Sargocentron tiere BLUESTRIPE SQUIRRELFISH
Sargocentron diadema CROWN SQUIRRELFISH	Sargocentron xantherythrum HAWAIIAN SQUIRRELFISH
Sargocentron punctatissimum PEPPERED SQUIRRELFISH	Neoniphon sammara SPOTFIN SQUIRRELFISH
Neoniphon aurolineatus GOLDLINE SQUIRRELFISH

INDO-PACIFIC

Neoniphon argenteus

CLEARFIN SQUIRRELFISH
Neoniphon opercularis

BLACKFIN SQUIRRELFISH

Ostichthys kaianus

DEEPWATER SOLDIERFISH

Myripristis violacea

LATTICE SOLDIERFISH

TROPICAL EASTERN PACIFIC

Myripristis leiognathus

PANAMIC SOLDIERFISH

TROPICAL WESTERN ATLANTIC

Holocentrus adscensionis

SQUIRRELFISH
Holocentrus rufus

LONGSPINE SQUIRRELFISH

Neoniphon marianus

LONGJAW SQUIRRELFISH

Sargocentron vexillarium

DUSKY SQUIRRELFISH

Myripristis jacobus

BLACKBAR SOLDIERFISH