Teira

Habitat:

Adults may be found in sheltered bays and offshore areas down to depths of at least of 20 m, sometimes forming groups or schools of varying sizes. Small juveniles are pelagic, occurring among floating debris or forming schools under rafts of Sargassum. Juveniles inhabit shallow protected coral areas.

Distribution:

The species is widespread in the Indo-West Pacific, from the Red Sea and eastern Africa in the west, to Micronesia and Fiji in the east, north to Japan, and south to Australia.

Conservation status:

It has not yet been assessed globally by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In a regional assessment for the Arabian Gulf it was classified as Least Concern (LC). It is caught by handline and nets, is of minor commercial importance to fisheries, but used in the aquarium trade.

Description:

The body is orbicular and strongly compressed, very deep in juveniles, depth decreasing with growth. In adults the dorsal profile of the head is nearly vertical to well above eye. The dorsal and anal fins of juveniles are extremely elevated, gradually shortening with growth. Juveniles are whitish to silvery grey with three dark brown bars on the body, the dorsal and anal fins. Adults are whitish to silvery grey-brown with three dark bars on the anterior part of the head and body and a prominent black blotch on the abdomen.