(Image credit: Rick Stuart-Smith, Reef Life Survey)

Female top, male below

Sergeant bakers are an inquisitive species often seen swimming in reefs by divers. They have a mottled red colouration. Males are easily distinguished from females by a long fin ray (which extends almost half the body length) projecting from their dorsal fin, this is lacking in females.

Length: Up to 70 cm

(Previously known as Aulopus purpurissatus)

Habitat

Exposed reef; 2-248 m depth

Log it

If spotted on the northeast, eastern and southern coasts of Tasmania

Related links/info

Species names on the Redmap site are based on the Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota or CAAB (http://www.cmar.csiro.au/caab/). This is updated regularly and lists the approved common name, family, species name and more.

Redmap species descriptions were based, with permission, on the following resources:

Australian Marine Life: The Plants and Animals of Temperate Waters by G. J. Edgar, Revised Ed. (2008) Reed Books, Melbourne

Fishes of Australia’s Southern Coast, Edited by M. Gomon. D. Bray and R. Kuiter (2008) Reed Books, Melbourne

Find further information and images at FISHES OF AUSTRALIA http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/

Fishes of Tasmania by P. Last, E. Scott and F. Talbot (1983). Tasmanian Fisheries Development Authority, Hobart