Yellowfin goatfish
Amazing fact
The yellowfin goatfish has a yellow stripe running from its eye to the base of its tail.
Museums Victoria and OzFishNet
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The yellowfin goatfish has a yellow stripe running from its eye to the base of its tail.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Yellowfin goatfish
- Scientific name
- Mulloidichthys vanicolensis
- Japanese name
- アカヒメジ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Mulliformes
- Family
- Mullidae
- Genus
- Mulloidichthys
Where the name “Yellowfin goatfish” comes from
Its scientific name refers to Vanikoro Island, the locality of the type specimen.
Museums Victoria and OzFishNetA kind of goatfish, it lives on coral reefs from the seas of southern Japan across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
It is whitish while alive but turns red after death, which is said to be how it got its name (aka means red).
How the Yellowfin goatfish lives
It often forms large schools during the day. At night, the school disperses to feed over flat sandy areas. It eats bristle worms, crustaceans, brittle stars and small molluscs.
Museums Victoria and OzFishNetBasic data
- Range
- Indo-Pacific excluding Easter Island, and elsewhere
Where the Yellowfin goatfish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- アカヒメジ
- 简体中文
- 无斑拟羊鱼
- 繁體中文
- 金帶擬鬚鯛
- Español
- Chivo de Aleta Amarilla
- Français
- Surmulet à nageoires jaunes
- Deutsch
- Gelbschwanz-Meerbarbe
- Português (Brasil)
- Trilha-amarela
- Italiano
- Triglia pinna gialla
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Biji nangka sirip kuning
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá phèn vây vàng
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — アカヒメジChecked: 2026-11-04
- Museums Victoria and OzFishNet — Goldstripe Goatfish, Mulloidichthys vanicolensisChecked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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