---
title: Spangled Emperor (Lethrinus nebulosus)
scientific_name: Lethrinus nebulosus
common_name: Spangled Emperor
taxon: Emperors
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-11-13T20:19:43.824Z
updated: 2026-08-12T10:21:44.197Z
tags: Spangled Emperor, Lethrinus nebulosus, Emperors, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/emperors/spangled-emperor
---

# Spangled Emperor (*Lethrinus nebulosus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Emperors (*Lethrinidae*)
- **Size:** up to 87 cm
- **Depth:** 5-75 m
- **Diet:** Durophage
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Sand, seagrass and rubble beside reef
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Protogynous hermaphrodite
- **Hazard:** Poisonous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- heavy silver-bronze fish with blue flecks scattered over the scales
- blue lines radiating from the eye across the cheek
- steep forehead and thick lips, snout often buried in sand
- length up to 87 cm

A heavy silver-bronze fish to 87 cm (34 in), flecked with pale blue over the scales and marked with blue lines radiating from the eye. It works sand and seagrass beside the reef rather than the coral itself, usually alone and usually with its snout down.

The jaw is a mill. Behind the conical front teeth sit rows of blunt molars, and the emperor uses them on the armored animals nothing else on the flat can open: sea urchins, crabs, thick-shelled molluscs. Digging is done by blowing water at the sediment and taking what surfaces, which is why a feeding emperor leaves a trail of small craters.

It changes sex on the way up. Fish mature as females and the largest become males, so a big emperor is an old fish that spent years as something else - and the same size-selective fishing that takes the biggest fish takes the males first.

This is one of the region's most important food fishes and a favorite of shore anglers, which is why the big ones near towns are gone and why the species is a decent indicator of how hard a stretch of coast is fished.

## Also known as

- **English:** spangled emperor, Lesser Spangled Emperor, Green Snapper
- **Arabic:** سمك النهاش الشمالي الغربي, سمك الإمبراطور المتلألئ, سمك النهاش الأخضر
- **Hebrew:** שורי ערפילי
- **French:** Bec de cane, Bec-de-cane nuageux, Capitaine blanc
- **German:** Blauschuppen-Straßenkehrer, Langnasen-Straßenkehrer
- **Spanish:** Emperador Relámpago
- **Portuguese:** Imperador-nebuloso
- **Dutch:** Blauwgestreepte Straatveger
- **Czech:** cejnovka modrá
- **Japanese:** ハマフエフキ, Hamafuefuki
- **Chinese:** 星斑裸頰鯛, 青嘴仔, 青嘴龍占魚
- **Russian:** Звездчатый летрин
- **DA:** Blåspættet kejserbrasen
- **KO:** 갈돔
- **MSA:** Pelandok

## Scientific synonyms

- *Lethrinus alboguttatus* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus anatarius* Richardson, 1845
- *Lethrinus aurolineatus* MacLeay, 1882
- *Lethrinus carinatus* Weber, 1913
- *Lethrinus centurio* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus choerorynchus* (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- *Lethrinus cyanoxanthus* Richardson, 1843
- *Lethrinus devisianus* Whitley, 1929
- *Lethrinus erythrurus* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus esculentus* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus fasciatus* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus fraenatus* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus frenatus* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus gothofredi* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus guentheri* Bleeker, 1873
- *Lethrinus karwa* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus korely* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus maculatus* Valenciennes, 1830
- *Lethrinus perselectus* Whitley, 1933
- *Lethrinus scoparius* Gilchrist & Thompson, 1908
- *Sciaena nebulosa* Forsskål, 1775
- *Sparus choerorynchus* Bloch & Schneider, 1801

## Range

Comoros, Djibouti, East Africa, Eritrea, Federal Republic of Somalia, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Western Indian Ocean

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/emperors/spangled-emperor)*
*Updated: August 12, 2026*