WHATSTHATFISH
Bony fish

Horned Searobin

Bellator militaris

Also known as: Flying Gurnard, Grunt Fish, Gurnard

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2015
Adult
No adult photos yetSeen one? Be the first to add a photo of this stage.Add the first photo
01

Overview

Found singly, on mud and sandy bottoms, of shallow bays, estuaries, and deeper to the mid shelf, sometimes buried in the sand, they are more active at night, where they use their lower spine Pectoral fins like feet, to feel for invertebrates.
They feed nocturnally on benthic invertebrates.
Juveniles found in estuaries.

Sea robins have heavily armoured, spiny heads. They have separate rays (like soft spines) on their bellies, near the Pectoral fins these spines act like legs, as the fish walks along the bottom of the ocean they use these spines to find crustaceans in the sand.
They also grunt. French term for the word Gurnard means to grunt.
They have poisonous spines on their backs.

02

How to identify

COLOURS
Pattern
stripes
Head & Mouth
horns

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Western Atlantic
LIVES IN

Found singly, on mud and sandy bottoms, of shallow bays, estuaries, and deeper to the mid shelf, sometimes buried in the sand, they are more active at night, where they use their lower spine Pectoral fins like feet, to feel for invertebrates.

04

Adult photos 0

05

Discussion

Comments are checked by a moderator before they appear.

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

    ALL STAGES
    FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

    Deep dive

    Taxonomy

    1. kingdomAnimalia
    2. phylumChordata
    3. classTeleostei
    4. orderPerciformes
    5. familyTriglidae
    6. genusBellator
    7. speciesBellator militaris (Goode & Bean, 1896)

    SourcesWoRMSFishBase

    06

    More in the family

    Searobins (Triglidae)