Bluelined Hind

Fascinating facts about the Bluelined Hind

• The bluelined hind has a body length between two and a half and just under three times its depth and is a solitary species.
• The dorsal fin has 9 spines and 15–17 soft rays, and the anal fin has 3 spines and 7–8 soft rays.
• It was first formally described in 1812 by George Shaw from a specimen collected at Vizagapatam, India.
• It is found at depths of 10 to 30 m across reefs from the Lakshadweep Islands to Honshu, Japan, and is kept in the aquarium trade.

At a glance

About the Bluelined Hind

The Bluelined Hind, Cephalopholis formosa, is a sleek marine grouper whose body stretches to nearly three times its depth, capped with a rounded, finely serrated preopercle and a soft-edged lower jaw. Its dark brown to yellowish-brown skin is laced with thin, iridescent blue stripes, while the lips, snout, lower head and chest are peppered with tiny black and blue spots that glint like distant stars. Growing to a maximum total length of 34 centimetres (13 in), this modestly sized predator bears 9 dorsal spines, 15–17 soft dorsal rays, 3 anal spines and 7–8 soft anal rays, and a rounded caudal fin, all covered in ctenoid scales that reduce drag as it darts through its reef-bound world. In the shallow, silty or dead reefs of the Indo-Pacific, from the Lakshadweep Islands and Sri Lanka eastward to the Philippines, north to Honshu in Japan and south to the Northwest Shelf of Western Australia, the Bluelined Hind prowls alone at depths of 10 to 30 metres (33 to 98 ft). A solitary hunter, it snaps up smaller fishes and crustaceans with swift, precise strikes. Though not a primary target for commercial fisheries, it is occasionally caught as by-catch in hook-and-line, trap and trawl operations, and its vivid coloration makes it a prized aquarium specimen, a demand that may soon push its presence beyond natural borders through accidental releases or intentional introductions.

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