Highhat

Pareques acuminatus

Also known as: Cubbyu, Donkeyfish, Hardhead, Highhat Drum, Jackknife, Ribbonfish, Streaked Ribbonfish, Striped Drum, Striped Ribbonfish, Swordfish

ALSO KNOWN AS

Cubbyu
Donkeyfish
Hardhead
Highhat Drum
Jackknife
Ribbonfish
Streaked Ribbonfish
Striped Drum
Striped Ribbonfish
Swordfish

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2024

LIFE STAGE

Add a photo

Highhat adult, photographed at Rui club hotel negril, Jamaica — @Metzelaar · Rui club hotel negril, Jamaica · June 20181 / 3

Showing details for the adult stage. Switch stages to see how it differs.

Overview

The highhat is a striking black and white striped member of the drum family, with a tall front dorsal fin rising from a deep, diamond-shaped body. Drums are named for the repeated throbbing sounds they produce by beating muscles in the abdomen against the swim bladder.

It keeps to pairs or small schools over rough bottoms, along the eroded edges of seagrass beds and near coral reefs, in clear water around tropical islands and in nearby bays with rubble floors.

It lives in the western Atlantic, from North Carolina south through the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean to Venezuela.

Bold stripes run the length of the body, which has an arched back. The head sits low, the snout overhangs the mouth, and the front dorsal fin stands well clear of the long soft fin behind it, with a deep notch between them. That front fin becomes smaller with age. Most adults reach about 18cm. Its recorded food is crustaceans and fish.

Notes & fun facts

DID YOU KNOWThere are no barbels on the chin, just five small pores, with ten more on the snout.
DID YOU KNOWThe scales on the body have rough, toothed edges, while those on the head are smooth.

How to identify

COLOURS

Pattern: stripes
Behaviour: makes sounds pairs schooling

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

Habitat & where to find it

Where the adult stage lives, and where its photos were taken.

Range · Western Atlantic, Caribbean
Country only · 3

LIVES IN

Found in pairs or small schools over rough bottoms, along the eroded edges of seagrass beds and near coral reefs, in clear water around tropical islands and in nearby bays with rubble floors.

RANGE

Adult photos 3

Discussion

No comments yet. Seen one, or got a question about it? Start the discussion.

ALL STAGES

FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

Deep dive

Taxonomy

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classTeleostei
orderEupercaria incertae sedis
familySciaenidae
genusPareques
speciesPareques acuminatus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

SourcesWoRMS FishBase

Morphology

Adult

A deep, rhomboid body with bands of fine teeth, the outer row of the lower jaw enlarged, and a notched upper jaw closing over the lower. The dorsal fin has 8 to 10 spines before the notch, the sixth the longest, then one spine and 37 to 41 soft rays. The anal fin has 2 spines, the second thin, and 7 or 8 soft rays. Scales are thick on the bases of the soft dorsal and anal fins.