Mottled Fusilier

The mottled fusilier has a slender, fusiform body which is elongate and shows moderate lateral compression. There are small conical teeth on maxillae and the vomer but there are none on the premaxilla and palatines. The dorsal fin has 14 spines and 8 to 11 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and normally 9 or 10 soft rays. There are 16–19 pectoral fin rays. This species grows to a maximum total length of 14 cm (5.5 in). The overall colour is silvery darkening to brownish or bronze on the back. There is a silvery stripe along the flank from the upper operculum to the caudal peduncle, and there are 3–4 light sinuous thin stripes on the back.

The mottled fusilier has a wide Indo-Pacific range. It occurs along the eastern coast of Africa from the Gulf of Aden to South Africa, east across the Indian Ocean to the Solomon Islands, south as far as Australia and northwards to southern Japan. In addition, the mottled fusilier has also been recorded from New Caledonia. In Australian waters it is distributed from north of Port Hedland in Western Australia extending north around the tropical coast to the east coast where it reaches as far south as Hat Head in New South Wales and off the reefs of the Coral Sea. Several individuals were reported in 2017 in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon, likely introduced via the Suez Canal. It is found at depths between 37 and 91 m (120 and 300 ft). The adults are mainly pelagic over the continental shelf comparatively distant from reefs. They may form mixed species schools with other inshore small pelagic species. The juveniles are frequently found around reefs.