Logo

  • EnglishName: Banana fusilier
  • Local Name : Mas muguraan
  • Size : Common to 10 cm; max. 21 cm
  • Family: LUTJANIDAE
  • Order : Perciformes
  • Distinctive Characters: Dorsal fin with 10 spines and 15 (rarely 14 or 16) rays. Anal fin with 3 spines and 12 (rarely 11 or 13) rays. Pectoral fin with 18-20 rays. Body depth 3.8-4.2 in standard length. Body fusiform, elongate and compressed. Bases of dorsal and anal fin covered with scales.
  • Colour: Dark red to silvery, paler ventrally. Lateral line darker than the background colouration. No stripes or bands on sides. Snout often yellowish. Tips of caudal lobes dark red to black.
  • Habitat and Biology: Inhabits coastal waters and coral and rocky reef. A schooling fish, sometimes in groups with other species of the genus. Feeds on zooplankton in midwater aggregations.
  • Distribution: Indo-West Pacific.
  • Remarks: Pterocaesio pisang is a bait of major importance of tuna fishery in the Maldives. Around Male�?, fusiliers are used as live bait most frequently during the northeast monsoon season. Fusiliers are previously recorded under the family Caesionidae.