Siganus vermiculatus, Vermiculated spinefoot : fisheries, aquaculture, aquarium

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Siganus vermiculatus (Valenciennes, 1835)

Vermiculated spinefoot
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Siganus vermiculatus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Siganus vermiculatus (Vermiculated spinefoot)
Siganus vermiculatus
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Acanthuriformes (Surgeonfishes) > Siganidae (Rabbitfishes)
Etymology: Siganus: Latin, siganus = a fish, rabbit fish; by the similarity of the nose (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Valenciennes.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; reef-associated; depth range 0 - 20 m (Ref. 48637), usually 0 - 15 m (Ref. 90102). Tropical; 19°C - 38°C (Ref. 1827); 30°N - 30°S, 77°E - 20°W

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Indo-West Pacific: India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Islands, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Belau [=Palau], Guam, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu, ?New Caledonia, ?Western Australia, ?Pohnpei, Caroline Islands, ?Ebon Island and Marshall Islands.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 45.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1419); common length : 30.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9813); max. published weight: 2.4 kg (Ref. 125599)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 13; Dorsal soft rays (total): 10; Anal spines: 7; Anal soft rays: 9; Vertebrae: 13. Body bluish white; head brown to brownish or golden yellow with irregular blue lines. Preopercular angle 91°-102°; strong overlapping scales cover cheeks; midline of thorax scaled, not pelvic ridges. Anterior nostril with low flange, broadened slightly posteriorly. Spines stout, blunt or pungent, and venomous.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Juveniles live among mangroves then move out to lagoon and coastal reefs as they mature. Forms schools. Feeds on algae growing on seagrasses, mangrove roots and rocks. Adults congregate inshore in groups of several hundreds to spawn in summer. Spawning is by pairs; sticky eggs laid on the bottom. Its very high quality flesh commands premium prices (Ref. 9813). Adults on coastal reefs, subject to strong currents (Ref. 48637). This species can tolerate very low salinities (2 ppt) and temperatures up to 38 C (Ref. 37816).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Throughout summer, adults form inshore breeding groups of several hundred individuals on the 7th or 8th days of the lunar month; pairs break from these groups to spawn. The species has a high fecundity of 350,000/spawning season.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Woodland, David J. | Collaborators

Woodland, D.J., 1990. Revision of the fish family Siganidae with descriptions of two new species and comments on distribution and biology. Indo-Pac. Fish. (19):136 p. (Ref. 1419)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 25 August 2011

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Venomous (Ref. 4537)





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: likely future use; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | RFE Identification | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 26.2 - 29.3, mean 28.6 °C (based on 2941 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01230 (0.00669 - 0.02263), b=3.13 (2.97 - 3.29), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  2.0   ±0.00 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.3).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (20 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 44.8 [22.4, 129.2] mg/100g; Iron = 0.979 [0.445, 2.429] mg/100g; Protein = 19 [17, 21] %; Omega3 = 0.0994 [, ] g/100g; Selenium = 35.2 [11.4, 95.8] μg/100g; VitaminA = 10.3 [2.0, 55.5] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.82 [0.68, 4.15] mg/100g (wet weight);