Bicolor Goatfish
Parupeneus barberinoides
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Actinopterygii
- Order
- Mulliformes
- Family
- Mullidae
- Genus
- Parupeneus
- Species
- Parupeneus barberinoides
The bicolor goatfish (Parupeneus barberinoides) is a goatfish with a dark front half and a pale or yellowish rear half, often with a white stripe and a dark spot near the tail. Two long barbels hang from its chin.
It grows to about 25-30 cm and forages over sand, rubble and seagrass, sweeping its barbels through the sediment to find worms, crustaceans and small molluscs. Wrasses and other fish often follow it to snatch prey it disturbs.
The bicolor goatfish lives in the western Pacific, including the Philippines, where it is a common sight on sandy patches near reefs, often alongside the manybar goatfish.