Author: (Rüppell, 1828)
Siganus luridus (Rüppell, 1828)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Siganus luridus (Rüppell, 1829) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body compressed, its depth 2.1-2.8 in standard length. Teeth in jaws in one series, incisor-like with 1 or 2 lateral cusps. Gillrakers 14-16 + I + 3-4. D XIV + 10, longest dorsal spine longer than distance from front of eye to posterior edge of opercle, longest dorsal ray longer than length of snout; A VII 9; P 16; V I + 3 + I; caudal fin truncate. Colour: variable, usually mottled olive green to dark brown; pectoral fins hyaline-yellow; dark crossbars on caudal fin. Size: to 30 cm SL, usually 10-20 cm.
Habitat: inshore waters close to bottom in depths not exceeding 40 m. In small schools. Caught in small quantities in Israel and Lebanon in gill-nets, trammel-nets and beach-seines; in one case (Herzberg, 1973) eating the fish caused light intoxication. Food: seaweeds, mostly red algae (Lundberg, 1981). Reproduction: June-August (Popper, 1979).
Distribution: eastern Mediterranean, reported from Aegean Sea, Cyprus. Lebanon, Israel and Tunisia. A Suez Canal immigrant known from the Red Sea, tropical East Africa, Mauritius and Seychelles.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. George, 1972: 34 43.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.