- EnglishName: Slender pinjalo
- Local Name : Kandu kirulhiyamas
- Size : Common to 25 cm; max. 45 cm
- Family: Perciformes
- Order : LUTJANIDAE
- Distinctive Characters: Dorsal fin with 10 spines and 11 rays. Anal fin with 3 spines and 8 rays. Pectoral fin with 16 rays. Body depth 3.1-3.6 in standard length. Body elongate and robust. Tongue with teeth. Vomerine tooth patch triangular. Bases of dorsal and anal fins scaleless, their last soft rays extended into short filaments. Pectoral fins long, reaching level of anus. Caudal fin forked.
- Colour: Purplish with many yellow spots or faint yellow lines. Fins yellow. Lower lobe of caudal may be grey in females.
- Habitat and Biology: Occurs over rocky bottoms between about 90 to 360 m, most abundant from about 180 to 270 m. Feeds on fishes, pelagic tunicates and salps (a planktonic tunicate).
- Distribution: Widespread in tropical Indo-Pacific.
- Remarks: A total of 4 specimens of Pristipomoides auricilla were caught by the research vessel “Farumas�? while bottom longlining in about 80-100 m of water outside Male Atoll. This apparently constituted the first record of this species from the west of the Andaman Sea.