Also known as the lyretail coralfish, the lyretail anthias
or the scalefin anthia, but may be simply known as the goldfish. The sea goldie is a common sight to scuba divers

Scuba diving

Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....

 in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

, and is a typical representative of the subfamily of Anthiinae

Anthiinae

Perhaps the quintessential "reef fish," anthias make up a sizeable portion of the population of pink, orange and yellow fishes seen swarming in most coral reef photography and film...

.

Range

The sea goldie is found in the western Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 including the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

, and in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 as far east as Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and southeast Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is absent from the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

 and Oman

Oman

Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

.

Description

This species shows marked sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...

;

• Female: Length up to 7 cm, orange/gold colour with violet streak below the eye
• Male: Length up to 15 cm, fuchsia colour with elongated 3rd ray of the dorsal fin
  Dorsal fin
  A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...
  
  , a red patch on the pectoral fin and elongated margins of the tail.

The midas blenny, Ecsenius midas

Ecsenius midas

Ecsenius midas is a blenny from the Indo-Pacific, living between coral reefs from the Red Sea to Polynesia.It grows to a size of 13 cm in length. Its normal color is golden orange but it can adapt its color to match the colors of the fishes it mixes with. It shows a black spot near the anus...

, goes through a phase of yellow colouration and is a social mimic

Mimic

In evolutionary biology, mimicry is the similarity of one species to another which protects one or both. This similarity can be in appearance, behaviour, sound, scent and even location, with the mimics found in similar places to their models....

 of the sea goldie.

Biology

Like other anthias (Anthiinae

Anthiinae

Perhaps the quintessential "reef fish," anthias make up a sizeable portion of the population of pink, orange and yellow fishes seen swarming in most coral reef photography and film...

) the sea goldie is a protogynous hermaphrodite

Protogynous hermaphrodite

A protogynous hermaphrodite is an animal that begins its life cycle as a female. As the animal ages, based on internal or external triggers, it shifts sex to become a male animal. Many fish, such as the gag grouper, undergo just such a metamorphosis. Male fecundity goes up greatly with age more...

; a male retains a harem

Harem

Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...

 of 5-10 females, but when the male dies one of the females will undergo sex reversal and take the place of the missing male.

Reproduction occurs at sunset, between December and February (in the red sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

).

Habitat

Around coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

 outcrops in clear lagoon

Lagoon

A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...

s, patch reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

s and steep slopes to a depth of 35 m, often to be found in the company of Chromis diademata . They are often found in very large schools

Shoaling and schooling

In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are said to be shoaling , and if, in addition, the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are said to be schooling . In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely...

above the reef.