Animalia Life

Terapon jarbua
FAMILY
Terapontidae
TAXONOMY
Terapon jarbua Forsskеl, 1775, Jidda, Saudi Arabia, Red Sea.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Crescent-banded tiger-fish, tiger grunter, tiger perch; French: Peau d’вne, relйguй, violon jarbua; Spanish: Baraonga jarba.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Total length 14.2 in (36 cm). Body typically perchlike but more elongate. Silvery to light tan in color, with cream on belly and series of black stripes along flank and onto caudal fin. Caudal fin has black tips. There are 11–12 spines and 9–11 soft rays in the dorsal fin, 3 spines and 7–10 soft rays in the anal fin. Lower-most spine on the operculum extends beyond the opercular flap.
DISTRIBUTION
Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea and East Africa east to Samoa, north to southern Japan, and south to Australia and Lord Howe Island.
HABITAT
Marine and brackish waters, usually in bays, mangroves, and estuaries; will enter rivers. Both adults and juveniles frequent sand flats inshore, but juveniles will enter intertidal zone.
BEHAVIOR
Solitary or in small groups that move about the bottom or around structure.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Omnivorous, feeds upon fishes, insects, benthic invertebrates, and algae.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Catadromous in rivers. Probably spawns in groups in the saltwater. Eggs and larvae are pelagic. Juveniles migrate into lower reaches of rivers.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not listed by the IUCN.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Minor commercial species also taken in subsistence fisheries; incidental game fishes. Juveniles are collected for the aquarium trade. Also raised in aquaculture.

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