Sargocentron rubrum, also known as redcoat, is a member of the family Holocentridae of the order Beryciformes.

Squirrelfish in general are large, active, nocturnal fish which are usually red in color.

DISTRIBUTION

• It is found in the wide Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea to the West Pacific, where it ranges from southern Japan to New Caledonia, New South Wales (Australia) and recently Tonga.

• Observed since the mid-20th century in Levantine waters of the Mediterranean Sea, following entry via the Suez Canal, it is now very common through the entire eastern Basin.

MORPHOLOGY

• Dorsal spines: 11; Dorsal soft rays: 12–14; Anal spines: 4; Anal soft rays: 8–10.

• The body is marked with alternating stripes of brownish-red and silvery-white.

• The spinous dorsal fin is dark red with a large, quadrangular, whitish blotch in the middle of each membrane (except the first), forming a median band.

• The tips of the dorsal membrane are white, except towards the rear. There are five oblique scale rows on the cheek.

• The body depth is 2.5–2.8 in standard length (SL), and the head length (HL) is 2.65–2.85 in SL.

• The snout is short and blunt, measuring 4.25–4.7 in HL. The interorbital width is 4.5 in HL.

• The mouth is terminal to slightly inferior, with the maxilla usually extending nearly to, or just beyond, a vertical line through the center of the eye.

• The upper jaw length is 2.5–2.75 in HL. The premaxillary groove often ends above the anterior edge of the orbit.

• The anterior end of the nasal bone has a blunt spine, while the surface or medial edge of the nasal bone is spineless. The nasal fossa usually lacks spinules on its edge.

• The upper edge of the first suborbital bone has a slightly retrorse lateral spine located a short distance behind a vertical line at the front edge of the eye, followed by a ridge of recumbent spinules.

• The preopercular spine is usually about two-thirds the orbit diameter, measuring 3.2–5.3 in HL.

• The 3rd to 5th dorsal spines are subequal, with the longest in adults measuring 1.9–2.3 in HL, while the 3rd anal spine measures 1.35–1.6 in HL.

• color: body with alternating longitudinal red and whitish yellow stripes of about the same width. common size: 12-22 cm (max. 27 cm)

DIET

• Feed mainly on benthic crabs and shrimps also preys on small fishes

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

• Eggs and larvae are pelagic, and the juvenile stages show long spines on the head.