• Home
• About Fishes
• Fish Department
• Collections
• What's new
• Find a fish
  • Species name
  • Common name
  • Type of fish
  • Glossary
• Identify a fish
• Student stuff
• FAQs
• Fish movies
• Fish links

Find a Fish

Variegated Lizardfish
Synodus variegatus (Lacepède, 1803)

Variegated Lizardfish at a depth of 4m, Agincourt Reef, Great Barrier Reef, off Port Douglas, January 2002. View larger image.

A Variegated Lizardfish at Shiprock, Port Hacking, New South Wales.

A Variegated Lizardfish on a sandy bottom at Shiprock, Port Hacking, New South Wales.

A Variegated Lizardfish collected east of the Clarence River mouth, New South Wales (AMS I.33510-002).

The Variegated Lizardfish has a long, cylindrical body, a short-based first dorsal fin, a small adipose second dorsal fin (glossary), and a deeply forked caudal fin. It has a large mouth with needle-like teeth.

This species has a red stripe along the sides of the body which runs through darker red blotches. Below these are a series of white blotches.

The Variegated Lizardfish grows to at least 28cm in length.

It is a bottom-dwelling predator that lives in a range of habitats from coral reefs to silty rubble areas.

This species is found widely throughout the Indo-Pacific. In Australia it is recorded from the coast of north-western Western Australia around the north of the country and south to the central New South Wales coast.

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

Further reading

1. Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. 1. Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 292.
2. Allen, G.R. & R. Swainston. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 201.
3. Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Swainston Publishing. Pp. 180.
4. Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-Eastern Australia. Crawford House Press. Pp. 437.
5. Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
6. Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen & J.E. Hanley. 1989. Zoological Catalogue of Australia Vol.7 Pisces Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Survey. Pp. i-xii, 1-665.
7. Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.