Red Indianfish

Pataecus fronto Often when I go diving, I go in search of Red Indians. Red Indianfish that is. These uncommon fish are very hard to spot, and can be easily overlooked as they look exactly like a sponge. If you have good eyes and patients you will be able to find this unique fish, as it is found in a number of local dive sites including, Shiprock, Oak Park and Bare Island. Why not come on one of our club dives and we can go searching for Red Indians together.

According to the Australian Museums homepage, the Red Indian fish can reach a maximum length of 35cms. The ones I have seen have all been around 20-25cms. They range in colour from a scarlet, brick red to an orange colour. Sometimes they have black and/or white spots on them as well. The fish looks remarkably like a piece of sponge. The fish’s dorsal fin stretches the entire length of its body and gives it the appearance of wearing a North American Indian chief’s headdress. Therefore the fish does indeed look like a Red Indian.

The Red Indianfish is only found in Australian waters and it found from Moreton Bay in Queensland down to Durras in NSW and also from South Australia around to Shark Bay in Western Australia. Some of the books I read state that the Red Indian fish is found in deeper offshore waters, however most I have seen have been between 10m-18m.

The Red Indianfish usually sits still on the bottom next to a piece of sponge that it resembles. When found it does not move, but remains still and motionless on the bottom. The Red Indian fish can swim but when it does it looks like a dead leaf sinking through the water. There is some excellent footage of this on a video called Aliens of the Sea by Pawel Achtel, which we have been playing in the shop over the last few days. We also have copies for sale now if anyone is interested.

REFERENCES AND MORE INFORMATION
Australian Marine Life – The plants and animals of temperate waters, Graham J. Edgar, 1997, Reed Books
Sea Fishes of Southern Australia, B. Hutchins & R. Swainston, 1986, Swainston Publishing
Aliens of the Sea, Video by Pawel Achtel