---
title: Fusiliers (Caesionidae)
scientific_name: Caesionidae
common_name: Fusiliers
rank: Family
published: 2024-11-19T18:41:51.573Z
updated: 2026-08-03T20:57:39.716Z
tags: Fusiliers, Caesionidae, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/fusiliers
---

# Fusiliers (*Caesionidae*)

## Quick facts

- **Rank:** Family
- **Scientific name:** Caesionidae
- **Body shape:** Torpedo - Streamlined and muscular, built for open-water speed - jacks, tunas, barracudas.
- **Species listed here:** 7

## How to recognise this group

- silvery body, often with yellow or blue stripes
- yellow markings on fins or tail base
- forming large, fast-moving schools in mid-water

Fusiliers are schooling reef fishes with streamlined, torpedo-shaped bodies. Most species grow to between 20 and 60 cm (8-24 in). They typically have silvery bodies, often marked with yellow or blue stripes, and frequently show yellow on the fins or caudal peduncle. Their mouths are small and highly protrusible, adapted for feeding on zooplankton, and their caudal fins are deeply forked. Their common name references their streamlined bodies and habit of swimming in organised, cohesive schools, much like lines of soldiers.

These active fishes primarily inhabit outer reef slopes, drop-offs, and lagoon channels, ranging from the surface down to depths of at least 60 m (200 ft). They form large, fast-moving schools in mid-water, constantly feeding on zooplankton carried by currents. Schools maintain their cohesive structure even when approached, moving rapidly through the water column. They are a common sight on healthy Red Sea reefs, often encountered in large numbers.


## Species (7)

- [Goldband Fusilier (Pterocaesio chrysozona)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/fusiliers/goldband-fusilier)
- [Lunar Fusilier (Caesio lunaris)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/fusiliers/lunar-fusilier)
- [Red Sea Fusilier (Caesio suevica)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/fusiliers/red-sea-fusilier)
- [Scissortail Fusilier (Caesio caerulaurea)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/fusiliers/scissortail-fusilier)
- [Striped Fusilier (Caesio striata)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/fusiliers/striped-fusilier)
- [Yellowback Fusilier (Caesio xanthonota)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/fusiliers/yellowback-fusilier)
- [Yellowlined Fusilier (Caesio varilineata)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/fusiliers/yellowlined-fusilier)

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/fusiliers)*
*Updated: August 3, 2026*