---
title: Arrowhead Soapfish (Belonoperca chabanaudi)
scientific_name: Belonoperca chabanaudi
common_name: Arrowhead Soapfish
taxon: Soapfishes
published: 2026-08-11T10:12:03.821Z
updated: 2026-08-11T10:18:42.226Z
tags: Arrowhead Soapfish, Belonoperca chabanaudi, Soapfishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/soapfishes/arrowhead-soapfish
---

# Arrowhead Soapfish (*Belonoperca chabanaudi*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Soapfishes (*Grammistini*)
- **Size:** up to 15 cm
- **Depth:** 5-50 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Caves, ledges and steep walls, hanging in shade
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Gonochoric
- **Hazard:** Poisonous

## How to recognise it

- black spot at the base of the dorsal fin, ringed pale
- arrow-shaped head and body, dark brown speckled with fine blue dots
- yellow patch on the tail base
- hovers motionless in a cave, head slightly down

A dark, arrow-shaped fish hanging motionless in the mouth of a cave, brown speckled with fine blue points, with a black spot ringed in pale at the base of the dorsal fin and a yellow smudge on the tail base. It holds position with the head tilted slightly down and moves only when it has to, which is why photographers find it before it finds them.

Soapfishes get their name from what happens when they are handled: the skin releases a bitter toxin called grammistin that foams in water like soap. It is a defense that works on predators the way a mouthful of detergent works on anyone, and it is the reason this family is left alone by fish that eat everything else its size.

Hunting happens after dark, on small fish and crustaceans taken from the water column at the cave mouth. By day the same individual is usually in the same crack, so a wall dive with a good hole in it will produce the same fish on repeat visits, which is unusual enough to be worth remembering.

## Also known as

- **English:** Arrowhead Soapfish, Arrow-head soapfish, Arrow-headed Soapfish
- **French:** Poisson-savon de Chabanaud
- **Spanish:** Pez jabón punta de flecha
- **Portuguese:** Peixe-sabão-cabeça-de-flecha
- **Czech:** kanic šípohlavý
- **Japanese:** ヤミスズキ, Yamisuzuki
- **Chinese:** 卡斑諾針鮨, 查氏鱵鱸, 箭頭肥皂魚
- **Russian:** Мыльная рыба-стрела
- **CA:** Peix sabó cap de fletxa

## Scientific synonyms

- *Belonoperca chaubanaudi* Fowler & Bean, 1930

## Range

Comoros, Federal Republic of Somalia, Indian Ocean, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/soapfishes/arrowhead-soapfish)*
*Updated: August 11, 2026*