Fishes - Australian Museum Fish Site

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Yellowtail Fusilier
Caesio cuning (Bloch, 1791)

Yellowtail Fusilier
Above and below: A Yellowtail Fusilier at a depth of 18 m, Wheeler Reef, Queensland, November 2001. Photo © E. Schlögl. View larger image.
Yellowtail Fusilier
Photo © E. Schlögl. View larger image.

The Yellowtail Fusilier has a greyish-blue body. The soft portion of the dorsal fin is yellow, as is the top of the caudal peduncle and the caudal fin. The bottom third of the body is often white with a pink-reddish tinge. This gives this species its common name.

This fish grows to 60 cm in length.

It inhabits offshore reef slopes, commonly in large schools. It is usually seen hovering in midwater feeding on zooplankton.

The Yellowtail Fusilier is found at depths from 1 m to 60 m.

It occurs in tropical marine waters of the Indo-West Pacific, from Sri Lanka, throughout South-east Asia and Micronesia, north to Japan, south to Australia and east to Vanuatu.

In Australia it is known from the north-western coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country, and south to central New South Wales.

View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.

Further reading

  1. Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 220.
  2. Carpenter, K.E., 1987 Revision of the Indo-Pacific fish family Caesionidae (Lutjanoidea), with descriptions of five new species. Indo-Pacific Fishes (15): 1-56.
  3. Carpenter, K. E. 1988. FAO species catalog. Vol. 8. Fusilier fishes of the World. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of caesionid species known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. No. 125: i-iv + 1-75.
  4. Carpenter, K. E. 2001. Caesionidae. in Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 5. Bony fishes part 3 (Menidae to Pomacentridae). FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-iv, 2791-3379.
  5. Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. Coral Graphics. Pp. 330.
  6. Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 251.
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