Mulloidichthys Explained

Mulloidichthys is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Mullidae native to coral and rocky reefs of the tropical Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean.^[1]

Mimicry

Several species of Mulloidichthys mimic the appearance of other fish species. M. mimicus mimics and schools with the snapper Lutjanus kasmira,^[2] while M. martinicus mimics and schools with grunts in the genus Haemulon.^[3]

Species

There are currently 7 recognized species in this genus:

Species!Common name!Image
Mulloidichthys ayliffeUiblein, 2011		Indian mimic goatfish^[4]
Mulloidichthys dentatus(T. N. Gill, 1862)		Mexican goatfish
Mulloidichthys flavolineatus(Lacépède, 1801)	M. f. flavicaudus Fernández-Silva &</small> J. E. Randall, 2016^[5]	Yellow-tail goatfish
Mulloidichthys flavolineatus(Lacépède, 1801)	M. f. flavolineatus(Lacépède, 1801)	Yellow-stripe goatfish
Mulloidichthys martinicus(G. Cuvier, 1829)		Yellow goatfish
Mulloidichthys mimicusJ. E. Randall & Guézé, 1980		Mimic goatfish
Mulloidichthys pfluegeri(Steindachner, 1900)		Orange goatfish
Mulloidichthys vanicolensis(Valenciennes, 1831)		Yellow-fin goatfish

Notes and References

Book: Lieske, E. . Myers, R. . amp . 2002 . Coral Reef Fishes: Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean Including the Red Sea . HarperCollins Publishers . 400 . 9780691089959 . registration .
Book: John E Randall . The goatfish Mulloidichthys mimicus n. sp. (Pisces, Mullidae) from Oceania, a mimic of the snapper Lutjanus kasmira (Pisces, Lutjanidae) . Paul Gueze . 1980 . English.
Krajewski . João Paulo . Bonaldo . Roberta Martini . Sazima . Cristina . Sazima . Ivan . 2004 . The association of the goatfish mulloidichthys martinicus with the grunt haemulon chrysargyreum: an example of protective mimicry . Biota Neotropica . 4 . 2 . 1–4 . 10.1590/S1676-06032004000200016 . 1676-0611. free . 11449/211786 . free .
Uiblein . Franz . 2011 . Taxonomic review of Western Indian Ocean goatfishes of the genus Mulloidichthys (Family Mullidae), with description of a new species and remarks on colour and body form variation in Indo-West Pacific species . Smithiana Bulletin . 13 . 51–73.
Fernandez-Silva . Iria . Randall . John E. . Golani . Daniel . Bogorodsky . Sergey V. . 2016 . Mulloidichthys flavolineatus flavicaudus Fernandez-Silva & Randall (Perciformes, Mullidae), a new subspecies of goatfish from the Red Sea and Arabian Sea . ZooKeys . 605 . 131–157 . 10.3897/zookeys.605.8060 . 4978075 . 27551217 . free.