Animal Species:Brown Sweetlips, Plectorhinchus gibbosus (Lacépède, 1802)

The Brown Sweetlips has very large fleshy lips.  It occurs in coral reef, estuarine and inshore waters.

Alternative Name/s

Black Sweetlip, Blubber-lip Bream, Brown Blubber-lips, Dusky Sweetlips, Hairy Hotlips, Rubber-lip Bream

Identification

The Brown Sweetlips has very large fleshy lips and ctenoid scales. It is brown to dark grey, with dark scale margins. The margins of the operculum and preoperculum are dark brown to black.

Size range

The species grows to about 75 cm in length.

Distribution

It occurs in tropical waters of the Indo-west and Central Pacific. In Australia it occurs from the central coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country and south to the central coast of New South Wales.

The map below shows the Australian distribution of the species based on public sightings and specimens in Australian Museums.  Source: Atlas of Living Australia.

Plectorhinchus gibbosus

Distribution by collection data

Ozcam map of Brown Sweetlips specimens in the Australian Museums.

What does this mean?

Habitat

The species occurs in coral reef, estuarine and inshore waters. It tends to move up estuaries more than other members of the genus (pers. comm. J. Johnson, Queensland Museum).

Classification

Species:
gibbosus
Genus:
Plectorhinchus
Family:
Haemulidae
Order:
Perciformes
Class:
Actinopterygii
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Phylum:
Chordata
Kingdom:
Animalia

What does this mean?

References

  1. Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 292.
  2. Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & G.R. Allen. 2006. Fishes. In Beesley, P.L. & A. Wells. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 35. ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Australia. parts 1-3, pages 1-2178.
  3. Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
  4. Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Gary Allen. Pp. 437.
  5. McKay, R.K. 2001.Haemulidae. in Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 5. Bony fishes part 3 (Menidae to Pomacentridae). FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-iv, 2791-3379.
  6. Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.


Mark McGrouther , Collection Manager, Ichthyology
Last Updated:

Tags Fish, Ichthyology, Brown Sweetlips, Plectorhinchus gibbosus, Haemulidae, large lips, fleshy lips, coral reef, estuarine, inshore water, Black Sweetlip, Blubber-lip Bream, Brown Blubber-lips, Dusky Sweetlips, Hairy Hotlips, Rubber-lip Bream, ctenoid scales, dark grey, dark brown, black, 30 cm - 1 m, tropical water,