Goldband Goatfish

Upeneus moluccensis has an elongated body which has a sub-cylindrical anterior portion which becomes compressed towards the tail with two dorsal fins which are well separated, with the second dorsal fin directly above the anal fin. The caudal fin is deeply forked. The chin bears a pair of barbels which do not extend past the margin of the preoperculum. The upper and lower jaws, the palatine and the vomer are covered in brush-like or villiform teeth. The back is pinkish-red in colour contrasting with the white belly, from which it is separated by single longitudinal yellow stripe which runs from the operculum to the caudal fin peduncle. The dorsal fins are yellow in colour with 3 parallel red bars while the pectoral fin is a similar colour but lacks markings and the pelvic fin is colourless. The upper lobe of caudal fin is whitish and has 5 or 6 black diagonal bars while the lower lobe is unmarked except for the hind margin which is black as the second bar of the upper lobe extends along it. They can grow to 27 cm but are more usually 7–20 cm.

Upeneus moluccensis has an Indo-West Pacific distribution, occurring from the Red Sea to New Caledonia and as far north as Japan, and south to northern Australia. It is the second most common member of its genus in New Caledonian waters. The first record of U. moluccensis in the Mediterranean was off Palestine in 1947, it had reached the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal as a Lessepsian migrant, and has become common enough in the eastern Mediterranean to be an important species in fisheries.