About Scolopsis vosmeri (Bloch, 1792)
Scolopsis vosmeri has a dorsal fin supported by 10 spines and 7 soft rays, while its anal fin has 3 spines and 7 soft rays. The standard length of its body is twice, or slightly more than twice, its body depth, and its snout is a little shorter than the diameter of the eye. Scales on the head extend beyond the eyes, but do not reach as far as the rear pair of nostrils. The lower limb of the preoperculum is scaled, and there is a forward-pointing spine underneath the eye. It has moderately long pelvic fins that reach as far as, or almost as far as, the level of the anus.
The body's background color is reddish brown, with a whitish caudal peduncle, and the scales on the flanks bear dark spots. A wide white vertical bar runs from the crown onto the operculum. The dorsal, pectoral, and pelvic fins are dark reddish, and there is no black spot on the upper base of the pectoral fin. There is normally a white longitudinal band that runs below the lateral line, starting on the upper operculum and extending to underneath the soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin. In some individuals this band is absent, and observations have recorded that the fish can actively make this band flash as they swim, probably as an intraspecific signal. This species has a maximum published total length of 25 cm (9.8 in), while a 15 cm (5.9 in) standard length is more typical.
Scolopsis vosmeri is distributed in the Indian Ocean from the Arabian Sea and Sri Lanka eastwards into the Western Pacific Ocean, reaching as far as East Malaysia and Brunei. It is a benthic fish that occurs in inshore weedy areas, typically found on sand or mud substrates near reefs in turbid waters, at depths down to about 25 m (82 ft).
