Tetrarogidae

Cockatoo waspfish

Ablabys taenianotus

A tall sail fin with a white leading edge

• Tropical
• Regional distribution
• Marine fish
• Indian Ocean
• Pacific Ocean
• East Asia
• Oceania
• Deep-bodied
• Medium
• Tropical fish

Hailed across tropical reefs as the cockatoo waspfish for its dramatic feathered head crest, this wafer-thin scorpaenoid is a quintessential leaf mimic flourishing across Indo-West Pacific shallows. Its highly compressed, laterally flattened body is crowned by an immense, continuous dorsal fin that originates far forward directly above the pointed snout, rising into a sail-like crest reminiscent of a cockatoo's plumage. Coloration is richly variable, shifting between warm leaf-brown, mottled cream, ochre, and dark crimson, often marked by a pale dorsal blaze extending from the snout to the dorsal origin. Distributed from the Andaman Sea through Indonesia, the Philippines, and northern Australia north to southern Japan and Fiji, it occupies shallow sand-rubble flats, seagrass beds, and coastal reefs between one and forty meters depth. Swaying rhythmically back and forth in gentle surge currents, it disguises itself as dead drift algae before engulfing caridean shrimps and small fishes in a vacuum strike. Maximum recorded total length reaches fifteen centimetres.

Sources: Australian Museum — Cockatoo Waspfish, Ablabys taenianotus